The Monticello Hotel was a historic former landmark hotel and is a current apartment building in

Longview, Washington Longview is a city in Cowlitz County, Washington, Cowlitz County, Washington (state), Washington, United States. It is the principal city of the Longview, Washington Metropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses all of Cowlitz County. Longvie ...

. It was given to the city by founder R. A. Long in early 1923, and designed by Long's architects of choice, Hoit, Price, and Barnes, of Kansas City. Built between November 1922 and opening on July 14 of 1923, the "Hotel Monticello" was the first permanent building for the new planned city of Longview. Originally holding 200 hotel rooms spread over its 7 floors, it now holds 60 rooms. Several other hotels named Hotel Monticello exist in the

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

area. The Hotel in Longview is named after a former wood frame Hotel dating to the 1870s that was demolished in the construction of the new city, which itself was named after the historic Monticello Convention document, signed in the tiny settlement of Monticello,

Oregon Territory The Territory of Oregon was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from August 14, 1848, until February 14, 1859, when the southwestern portion of the territory was admitted to the United States, Union as the Oreg ...

at the time, near the site of the Hotel, petitioning the US Congress to grant the residents north of the Columbia River a separate territory, which ultimately led to the establishment of

Washington Territory The Washington Territory was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from March 2, 1853, until November 11, 1889, when the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Washington. It was created from the ...

and

Washington state Washington, officially the State of Washington, is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is often referred to as Washington State to distinguish it from the national capital, both named after George Washington ...

Monticello Monticello ( ) was the primary residence and plantation of Thomas Jefferson, a Founding Father, author of the Declaration of Independence, and the third president of the United States. Jefferson began designing Monticello after inheriting l ...

itself is a reference to Thomas Jefferson's estate in Virginia. The lobby, partially subdivided in a 1964 renovation, features Brazilian mahogany paneled walls, above which are a series of oil paintings by Joe Knowles depicting the early years of the settlement of western North America, including depictions of the Marcus Whitman expedition rafting the lower Columbia River and portraits of many early American notables such as John McLoughlin of the

Hudson's Bay Company The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC), originally the Governor and Company of Adventurers of England Trading Into Hudson’s Bay, is a Canadian holding company of department stores, and the oldest corporation in North America. It was the owner of the ...

. The hotel closed in 2016 due to the owners' debts and underwent a multi-million dollar renovation to restore it to its original glory. The Monticello Hotel opened its restored Crystal Ballroom and new Speakeasy on August 25, 2017 to a packed crowd of over 500. The ballroom was designed with at the time modern terrazzo floors, polychrome details, and 42

pilaster In architecture, a pilaster is both a load-bearing section of thickened wall or column integrated into a wall, and a purely decorative element in classical architecture which gives the appearance of a supporting column and articulates an ext ...

s signifying Washington as the 42nd State. New additions to the ballroom in the Speakeasy addition are Tiffany glass, and the 1888

Al Capone Alphonse Gabriel Capone ( ; ; January 17, 1899 – January 25, 1947), sometimes known by the nickname "Scarface", was an American organized crime, gangster and businessman who attained notoriety during the Prohibition era as the co-foun ...

Chicago Bar, a 22 foot solid oak bar allegedly owned and operated by Al Capone. In June 2018, the new Monticello Wood-fired Pizzeria opened in the former lounge section. In 2019, it was converted into an apartment building.

In popular culture

Hotel Hell ''Hotel Hell'' is an American reality television series created, hosted and narrated by Gordon Ramsay, which ran on the Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox network for three seasons from 2012 to 2016. It aired on Monday nights at 8 pm ET/PT. It was Ra ...

'' covered the hotel in an episode of the series, broadcast on July 28, 2014, on U.S. Fox television network.

References

{{coord, 46, 08, 22, N, 122, 56, 24, W, format=dms, display=title, type:landmark_region:US-WA Longview, Washington Hotels in Washington (state) Buildings and structures in Cowlitz County, Washington