Admiral Hotel (Mobile, Alabama)

The Hotel Admiral Semmes opened in November 1940, named for Raphael Semmes, captain of the Confederate commerce raider CSS Alabama.[3] The 251-room hotel was constructed in 15 months, at a cost of $1 million.[4] It was the first hotel in Mobile to provide air conditioning and telephones in every guest room and featured a coffee shop, a drug store, cocktail lounge and a National Airlines office.

In the 1950s, a motel wing was added across the street, the Admiral Semmes Motor Hotel.[4] In the late 1960s and 1970s, singer Jimmy Buffett performed regularly at the hotel's Admiral's Corner Lounge.[5]

The hotel closed in 1978 and was converted to a retirement home, Admiral Semmes Manor. It was badly damaged soon after, by Hurricane Frederic, in 1979, and closed entirely.[4] In 1982, the vacant building was sold, along with a nearby vacant Elks Lodge, to realtor Arthur Pope, for $975,000. In 1983, the hotel structure was sold again, to a Dallas-based developer, for $1.8 million. The hotel was completely restored and the rooms were enlarged, reducing their number to 170. It reopened in 1985 managed by Radisson Hotels as the Radisson Admiral Semmes Hotel.[4]

In 1989, it was one of the 32 founding hotels in the National Trust for Historic Preservation's Historic Hotels of America program.[6]

In 2014 after being purchased by the Mississippi-based Thrash Group for $ million,[7] it underwent an extensive, $27 million renovation, which reduced the room count further, to 156 rooms.[8] The renovations were overseen by architect James Flick of Dallas-based Flick Mars.[2]

It reopened on November 17, 2015 as The Admiral Hotel Mobile, Curio Collection by Hilton, part of Hilton's Curio Collection brand.[9] The name Admiral Semmes was changed due to Semmes's connection to the Confederacy.[10] In April 2020, the hotel joined Wyndham Hotels & Resorts, and was renamed The Admiral, A Wyndham Hotel. In June 2022, it was sold to Charleston, South Carolina-based Avocet Hospitality Group for $21 million and renamed The Admiral Hotel.[11]

Another view, in 2009

The building is 12-stories high and originally had 251 guest rooms. It now has 156 standard guest rooms and five luxury, multi-room suites on the top floor. It has a depression-era style and maintains its art deco features, including the elevator doors. The interior has a more opulent look with marble floors, and oval balcony overlooking the lobby, a large spiral staircase and a chandelier.[2][12]

The hotel now features two restaurants and an outdoor pool as well as the original meeting spaces. There are eight event areas, including a ballroom, comprising 6,795 sq ft (631.3 m²).[13]

• Official website