Our stay at the reportedly haunted Bellevue Hotel in Philly

The French Renaissance-style Bellevue Hotel, as seen from the top. The balconies flank the domed dining room where we looked out at the city. (Courtesy of Hyatt)

On a recent trip to Philadelphia, my first visit, my friend and I stayed in the historic Bellevue Hotel. I knew nothing about it when I chose it; we were treating ourselves to a weekend away and wanted to stay at a place with history.

We chose well. Turns out, the Bellevue has a long – and spooky – history. Plus, it’s gorgeous!! (My fave building was stunning, record-holding Philadelphia City Hall. See pics of it here.)

We ate in the Bellevue’s incredible domed dining room on the 19^th floor, where visitors could go onto balconies and look over the city. There is also a bar called XIX on the top floor.

The Bellevue’s dining room. (Photo by Kelly Kazek)

Interestingly, when one person stands in the break in the seating on one side and the other person stands on the other, even a low whisper comes across in a loud, booming voice!

The domed dining room at the Bellevue. (Photo by Kelly Kazek)

Here are some fun facts about the Bellevue, including a mysterious series of deaths in the 1970s, and my photos of the interior:

The Bellevue started life in 1904 at 200 South Broad Street as the Bellevue-Stratford Hotel. It is now owned by Hyatt. Its website says it was built in 1886 by George Boldt in the French Renaissance style, opened in 1904 and expanded to its current size in 1912.

Famous visitors reportedly include Bob Hope, John Wayne, Katherine Hepburn, Jacob Astor, J.P. Morgan, William Jennings Bryan, Jimmy Durante and each president from Theodore Roosevelt to Ronald Regan.

According to the book by Stanley Turkel, Hotel Mavens: Lucius M. Boomer, George C. Boldt and Oscar of the Waldorf, President John F. Kennedy rode in a motorcade to the Bellevue just weeks before his assassination in Dallas. On October 30, 1963, the President rode in an open-air car from the airport to the Bellevue, a test for future motorcades on his tour, Turkel wrote.

The Bellevue’s dining room is one of four places where the dish Chicken a la King is said to have originated. In this version of the legend, it was created in the 1890s by Bellevue chef William King.

The incident that would make the hotel infamous occurred in 1976, during our nation’s Bicentennial celebration. Members of the American Legion held a convention at the hotel. Within days after they left, a pneumonia-like sickness swept through the guests, killing 29 people, mostly member of the American Legion. It turned out to be caused by bacteria in the air-conditioning system. The sickness became known as Legionnaires’ Disease and forced the closure of the hotel.

The year after the horrific incident, the empty building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It’s the only hotel in the city recognized by the National Register of Historic Places, according to CityGhostTours.com. The hotel reopened in the 1980s as a mixed-used development and changed hands numerous times before becoming a Hyatt property. Only a portion of the building currently contains hotel rooms.

Light fixtures were reportedly designed by Edison himself. The stained glass was created by Alfred Godwin.

The Bellevue has the reputation of being the most haunted hotel in Philadelphia according to GhostCityTours.com. Read reports of hauntings at this link. We stayed in Room 1417, whose numbers add up to 13. Still, we didn’t see any ghosts during our stay but we loved exploring the grand old hotel.