Roden Hotel

Artist's rendering of the Roden Hotel. courtesy BPL Archives

Photograph of the unfinished steel frame

The Roden Hotel was an unfinished high-rise hotel designed by William Weston and located at 1729 5th Avenue North, on the corner of 18th Street. The lot was the former site of Benjamin Roden's mansion, which was demolished in 1913 to make way for the hotel.

Beginning on February 12, the steel frame was erected quickly to the total height of twelve stories, but the backers ran out of funds and the building remained a skeleton, jokingly known as "America's best-ventilated hotel." In 1917 the steel skeleton was dismantled and sold for scrap. The war-time demand for steel allowed the project to net $150,000 for its investors despite never opening for business.

References

• Jefferson County Historical Commission. (1998) Birmingham and Jefferson County, Alabama. Images of America Series. Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing. ISBN 0752413465
• White, Marjorie Longenecker (1977) Downtown Birmingham: Architectural and Historical Walking Tour Guide. Birmingham: Birmingham Historical Society.