Kansas City's famous Baltimore Hotel, between 11th and 12th streets on Baltimore, was described at the turn of the century, during the Democratic National Convention in Kansas City this way: With but a single exception, the largest hotel in America, outside New York. (The Palmer House in Chicago was larger.) The Pompeian room, one of several dining rooms at the hotel, seated as many as 700 persons. Its luxurious furnishings of Pompeian red, green, green onyx and gold leaf, with gilded furniture and a Carrara marble fountain brought from Europe, were impressive. Soft chamber music was played by musicians throughout the dinner hour. An underground passageway conveniently led from the hotel bar to the Willis Wood Theater lobby across the street diagonally, at 11th and Baltimore. It was the finest legitimate theater in the city. The passageway served theater patrons during theater intermissions. Names of the theatrical greats, foreign dignitaries, political potentates, presidents and business leaders from around the world appeared on the registers of the Baltimore Hotel. The hotel was built during the years 1898-99 by the Corrigan estate. Louis Curtiss was the architect. It closed Aug. 6, 1938. At an auction lasting several weeks after the closing of the hotel, everything from old demitasse cups and saucers to fine mahogany dressers with beveled mirrors passed into the possession of persons who wanted the remember the old hotel. Today City Center Square, the new office tower, occupies the site. As Henry Van Brunt once wrote: Hotel Baltimore, the grand hotel for three decades, at the very heart of the city, both physically and sentimentally. Kansas City Times. January 7, 1983.
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