The 1960s were wild, man.
We started the decade with a quiet extension of the iconic 1950s, and ended it with drugs, free love, Woodstock, and a war raging in Vietnam.
The 60s also had a look like no other. Shag carpets, futuristic design, open floor plans, bold patterns. And – get this – round buildings. ROUND BUILDINGS! Houston’s Astrodome, Atlanta’s Henri Jova Trust Company Bank building, Seattle’s Space Needle, Brazil’s Metropolitan Cathedral of Brasília and the Theme Building at LAX were all built in the 1960s.
And along with those was the Holiday Inn in Raleigh, North Carolina.
Built in 1969, the 20-story building located at 320 Hillsborough St. was one of 25 round motels conceived by Holiday Inn founder Kemmons Wilson (y’all know he’s the one who introduced free ice in hotels, too, right?). And although the 200-room hotel was an iconic, memorable shape, it was either loved or detested by locals. Local newspaper The News & Observer raved about it as “the plushest pleasure dome ever decreed here,” and multiple bands, including Southern Culture on the Skids, played its 20th floor, which, once upon a time, included a restaurant.
The hotel, which was Raleigh’s tallest structure for 8 years, was sold at one point and operated under the Clarion name. However, it was purchased in 2012 for $9.4 million by a Miami developer, who renovated it and subsequently placed it back under Holiday Inn management.
The building was sold again in 2021, this time to Tidal Real Estate Partners. The following year, multiple local news outlets including The News & Observer reported that Tidal said they planned to replace the hotel with mixed-use property that would include a 183-room Kimpton Hotel, 326 apartments, an outdoor pool and a golf simulator. However, although work was supposed to begin in 2023, those plans had been on hold for some years.
Earlier this month, IHG announced that the hotel would not be demolished but instead would be converted into a Hotel Indigo, IHG’s global brand of small, individually owned boutique hotels.
The Holiday Inn Raleigh Downtown is currently closed to allow renovations to begin.
There is no word on when it will reopen. A spokesperson for Tidal was quoted as saying the company was “excited to bring Downtown Raleigh the true lifestyle boutique hotel it deserves, and to do so by restoring an iconic Raleigh landmark into the modern era.” They also hinted that more information about the renovation would be available in the coming weeks.
Want to comment on this post? Great! Read this first to help ensure it gets approved.
Want to sponsor a post, write something for Your Mileage May Vary, or put ads on our site? Click here for more info.
Like this post? Please share it! We have plenty more just like it and would love it if you decided to hang around and sign up to get emailed notifications of when we post.
Whether you’ve read our articles before or this is the first time you’re stopping by, we’re really glad you’re here and hope you come back to visit again!
This post first appeared on Your Mileage May Vary
