Encyclopedia Dubuque
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HOTEL JULIEN DUBUQUE: Difference between revisions
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[[Image:0114.jpg|left|thumb|200px|Julien Motor Inn|Photo courtesy: Bob Reding]] | [[Image:0114.jpg|left|thumb|200px|Julien Motor Inn|Photo courtesy: Bob Reding]] | ||
[[Image:Julien House circa 1884.jpg|left|thumb|200px|Julien House circa 1884. Photo courtesy: William K. Hammel]]HOTEL JULIEN DUBUQUE. Landmark downtown Dubuque hotel. The site at Second and Main has been the location of an inn or hotel since 1844. The | [[Image:Julien House circa 1884.jpg|left|thumb|200px|Julien House circa 1884. Photo courtesy: William K. Hammel]]HOTEL JULIEN DUBUQUE. Landmark downtown Dubuque hotel. The site at Second and Main has been the location of an inn or hotel since 1844. The [[WAPLES HOUSE]], the original building, had a sixty-four foot frontage on Main Street extending to an alley at the rear and was four stories tall. (1) The first floor was devoted to a store with the rest reserved for the hotel. (2) It bore the name of its owner [[WAPLES, Peter|Peter WAPLES]], a well-to-do Dubuque merchant. | ||
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Revision as of 15:47, 2 October 2015
HOTEL JULIEN DUBUQUE. Landmark downtown Dubuque hotel. The site at Second and Main has been the location of an inn or hotel since 1844. The WAPLES HOUSE, the original building, had a sixty-four foot frontage on Main Street extending to an alley at the rear and was four stories tall. (1) The first floor was devoted to a store with the rest reserved for the hotel. (2) It bore the name of its owner Peter WAPLES, a well-to-do Dubuque merchant.
In 1854 reconstruction, under the new ownership of a Mr. Burton and a Mr. Finlay, doubled the capacity of the hotel, renamed the JULIEN HOUSE, to eighty rooms. The ownership of the hotel changed again in 1867 when it was purchased by W. W. WOODWORTH and his son-in-law, Dr. Charles A Reed. Remodeling in 1873 provided a four-story addition along Iowa Street. (3) An interesting factor in this remodeling was that the hotel's dining room was placed on the hotel's main floor with the entrance on the corner of Second and Iowa. It was placed this way because it was the custom of passenger trains coming to town to stop at Second and Iowa to allow passengers to go to the hotel for breakfast, lunch or dinner. (4)
The old section of the Julien was demolished and rebuilt in 1889 to match the new section. Construction began after $50,000 was subscribed for the project from local investors. (5) The business of constructing the new building was carried out through The New Julien House Company. The company was organized on February 14, 1889 with directors including Augustine A. COOPER, Frank D. STOUT, Thomas CONNOLLY, Jacob RICH, Bart E. LINEHAN, James H. SHIELDS and George Benjamin BURCH.(6) The initial officers were George Burch, president; B. E. Linehan, vice-president; F. D. Stout, secretary; and Jacob Rich, treasurer. (7) The building, renamed the Hotel Julien in 1909, was a proud landmark in Dubuque that was not only an important center of commerce but a rival to Chicago hotels in size.
Fire destroyed the Julien Hotel on April 13, 1913, with an estimated loss of $294,000. A group of local businessmen, including William Harrison DAY, Sr., George McLean, and Dorrance Dixon MYERS organized the Dubuque Hotel Company and construction quickly resulted in a new Hotel Julien Dubuque. (8) The expected cost was $450,000. (9)
In 1916 in a unique chapter in Dubuque history, the hotel offered the people of Dubuque artesian well water from a well in the empty lot at the rear of their building. The taste of the local water was poor. The hotel stated the well was over 3,000 feet deep and the water "absolutely pure."
During the gangster era of PROHIBITION, it is alleged the Hotel Julien, renamed in 1929, was a get-away for Alphonse CAPONE, the infamous mobster who often found Dubuque and East Dubuque safer territory than Chicago. Dubuque ownership of the hotel slipped away in 1928 when Harold Hayes of Chicago purchased the A. A. Cooper controlling interest in the stock of the hotel company.
William H. KLAUER, one of the original investors in the Dubuque Hotel Company, returned Dubuque ownership to the hotel in February 1930 though a settlement after court action had been taken by LeRoy Harris and Harry Brooks against company president Harold Hayes for alleged mismanagement. The Klauer purchase of the hotel diversified Klauer's investments away from manufacturing and the hotel remained in the Klauer portfolio until 1962 when the hotel was sold.
The Hotel Julien was a favorite resting spot for travelers and provided the site for the city's first RADIO station. WKBB (Walter Klauer Broadcasting Business) was operated by James D. CARPENTER. The station, the predecessor to WDBQ, had beautiful studios in the 1940s. The station was later sold to the Roshek brothers who moved the station to a small building near the ORPHEUM THEATER and then to the area of FARMERS' MARKET. The Hotel Julien was also known for its impressive art collection.
William H. Klauer was one of the first patrons of the artist colonies near Taos, New Mexico and bought many paintings for display back in Dubuque. "The Art Room," later a reception area off the lobby along 2nd Street was known as the "Harbor Gallery." It was often chosen as the site for weddings. When the Klauers sold the hotel there was no place locally to display many of the larger pieces. Donations of art was made to Notre Dame University.
The Julien was purchased in 1962 by Louis PFOHL who ordered remodeling. The hotel was closed for several years to redesign the lobby, dining rooms and guest rooms; add air-conditioning throughout the building; and install fast, self-service elevators. A collector of antiques, Pfohl brought many one-of-a-kind objects to the building including the famous Ziegfeld mirror to the lobby. In an interview with the TELEGRAPH HERALD, Pfohl stated that Ziegfield said the mirror was his good luck piece. Located in the first theater in which he presented the famous follies, the mirror was always placed just off-stage so that every girl could give herself a last inspection before appearing on stage. Gracing the dining room of the Alte Glocke Restaurant in the Julien were stained glass panels. Pfohl saved these from a stone staircase in a New York Gothic mansion belonging to Arthur Curtiss James who acquired immense wealth through investments in brass, copper, and RAILROADS. Legendary Dubuque author Richard BISSELL was asked by Pfohl for ideas in designing the Riverboat Lounge. Bissell shared some antique running lights and a large photograph of a steamer. The name of the hotel was changed to the Julien Motor Inn in 1969. Standing in a niche at the entrance off Second and Main STREETS was a life-sized statue of Julien DUBUQUE, commissioned by Pfohl from New York sculptor Barry Johnston. The sculpture was placed looking toward the MISSISSIPPI RIVER because of an account that Dubuque once had a hut near where the Inn stands.
The remodeling created a sensation when the Julien Motor Inn was reopened in the fall of 1970. The DUBUQUE VISITING NURSE ASSOCIATION Charity Ball was the first to be held at the hotel in years. In 1989 the Julien Motor Inn was renamed the Julien Inn.
In February 2008 amid much anticipation the Hotel Julien Dubuque reopened after a $28-million renovation. The project began with work on the exterior in March 2007 and interior work beginning six months later. The work included redesigning the 168 guest rooms into 133 luxury rooms and suites, installation of a geothermal system and a reflective roof, and the addition of a pool, fitness facility spa and retail spaces on the first and second floors of the hotel.
--- Source:
1. "Remember Old Julien House, Successor to Waples House?" Telegraph Herald, Oct. 24, 1937, p. 3. Online: http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=-OxBAAAAIBAJ&sjid=GaoMAAAAIBAJ&pg=2309,4651556&dq=stout+house+dubuque&hl=en
2. Ibid.
3. Ibid.
4. Ibid.
5. "It Will Be Built," Dubuque Sunday Herald, February 13, 1889, p. 5
6. "Organized," Dubuque Sunday Herald, February 15, 1889, p. 4
7. "Reorganized," Dubuque Sunday Herald, February 14, 1889, p. 4, Online: http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=l55FAAAAIBAJ&sjid=_rwMAAAAIBAJ&pg=3517,234458&dq=stout+house+dubuque&hl=en
8. "Remember Old Julien House..."
9. "New Hotel Plans Agreed Upon; Let Contract Soon," Telegraph Herald, December 18, 1913, p. 1
Note: This entry owes a great debt to Mike Ironside whose pioneering articles on the Julien appeared in 365ink in 2009.
e-mail, Bill Breihan, Dec. 29, 2010