Anchorage Hotel, Anchorage

The Historic Anchorage Hotel carries a legacy rooted in the city’s early days. Originally constructed in 1916 by C.B. Wark, the hotel began as a modest wood-frame structure but soon took on a new face in 1917 when Frank Reed transformed it into a luxury establishment. As Anchorage expanded in the 1930s, so did the need for more accommodations, leading to the construction of the Anchorage Hotel Annex in 1936, designed in Gothic style by architect E. Ellsworth Sedille. This new addition quickly became one of the city’s tallest buildings, embodying Anchorage’s ambitious growth.

Throughout its heyday, the Historic Anchorage Hotel hosted several notable guests, including President Warren Harding, Interior Secretary Harold L. Ickes, and entertainment icons like Walt Disney. Adventurers Wiley Post and Will Rogers also stayed here, tragically only two days before their fatal plane crash. Adding to the hotel’s artistic heritage, landscape painter Sidney Laurence occasionally resided at the hotel, famously exchanging a painting of Mount McKinley for a year’s rent.

Despite its prominence, the hotel’s fortunes waned in the 1950s, leading to the demolition of the original building in the 1960s, while the annex struggled under different managements, even being renamed the Hotel Ronald Lee. The hotel’s revival began in the late 1980s, thanks to Bob and Carolyn Neumann, who restored its former charm, returning it to its original name. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1999, the Historic Anchorage Hotel remains a cherished relic of Anchorage’s storied past, blending history with hospitality for today’s visitors.