Reich Hotel

The Reich Hotel (later the Downtown Motor Hotel) was a landmark 10-story, 150-room hotel constructed on the Florida Short Route in downtown Gadsden in 1930 by Adolphe "Popo" Reich. The building was designed by David O. Whilldin of Birmingham with interior designs by Marshall Fields & Company of Chicago, Illinois.

Reich hired chefs from New Orleans to distinguish the hotel's dining experience. The ballroom hosted numerous dinner dances with the likes of Guy Lombardo and Tommy Dorsey during the Post-War years. Reich's son, Robert, oversaw a modernization of the hotel in the 1960s, with air-conditioning and a new swimming pool. In 1970 Reich sold the hotel to Don Funderburke of Atlanta, Georgia, who sold it, in turn, to the Life Insurance Company of Alabama. They renamed it the Downtown Motor Hotel and added a 52-unit motel wing. In 1978 the hotel was converted into senior housing.

References

• Bowers, Charly (November 19, 1978) "Century-old [sic] tradition comes to an end." Gadsden Times