The Council of Independent Colleges: Historic Campus Architecture Project

Boone Tavern Hotel

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Boone Tavern Hotel (west facade), Berea College

Institution Name: Berea College
Original/Historic Place Name: Boone Tavern Hotel
Location on Campus: Prospect St.
Date(s) of Construction and Designer(s):

1909	original construction Cady & See
1910	third-story addition Unknown
1995	electrical maintenance renovations Unknown

Type of Place: Individual building
Style(s): (Glossary)
Materials:

Foundation: concrete

Walls: brick; stucco

Roof: asphalt; derbigum

Function:

1909-present (2007)

other (hotel)

Significance: architecture, education
Landmark designation:

National Register

Boone Tavern Hotel (1996)

Narrative: see below
References: see below

Narrative:
The Boone Tavern Hotel, erected in 1909, was the first commercial building in the Berea area built in the colonial revival style. Designed by Cady and See of New York, it is a three-story structure with a front entrance on the building's south side covered by a two-story portico of four Ionic columns, beneath which are two porches, one on each story. Above the portico are the architrave, the frieze, and the cornice. Although the south entrance at one time had a lattice balustrade, this is no longer part of the structure. There is also a second, columned entrance on the building's west side.

The hotel got its name from pioneer Daniel Boone, who explored nearby territories and, as legend has it, must have slept within a mile of the Tavern's location. The Tavern's development is also a direct reflection of US Highway Route 25, or the Old Dixie Highway, which was just a dirt road when the hotel was constructed in 1909. The Boone Tavern Hotel oH started out as a small establishment, but a third story was added just a year after it opened as a result of the increased number of visitors arriving on US Highway Route 25. In 1934, Route 25 brought Eleanor Roosevelt to the hotel on her way to Lexington, Kentucky and Chicago, Illinois.

No student has ever paid tuition at Berea. In order to offset the cost of their educations, students work a minimum of 10-15 hours per week in various industries and departments on campus.

After the Boone Tavern's construction, students began learning the dignity of labor by working as clerks, bellboys, waiters, and waitresses. With the addition of the Hotel Management major in the department of Economics and Business at Berea College, students are also able to get hands-on experience working as dining room managers and front desk workers.

References:

I. Bibliographic sources:

Sleet, Younette, and Melissa Gross. Boone Tavern Hotel [Berea College]. National Register of Historic Places designation report. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of the Interior/National Park Service, 1995.

II. Location of other data:

SHPO

Government Offices