The Vinoy Park Hotel (also known as the Renaissance Vinoy Resort and Golf Club or The Vinoy) is a historic Mediterranean Revival-style hotel located in St. Petersburg, Florida on the bayfront area of downtown. The hotel is located at 501 Fifth Avenue Northeast overlooking the Vinoy Yacht Basin.
On September 11, 1978, it was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places. On April 18, 2012, the AIA's Florida Chapter placed it on its list of Florida Architecture: 100 Years. 100 Places.
History
Vinoy Renaissance Hotel - Review - St. Petersburg, FL - The Vinoy Renaissance Hotel overlooks both Tampa Bay and a scenic marina. The Vinoy, a historic boutique hotel, is located at 501 5th Avenue NE in St. Petersburg, Florida. The staff are well-traine...
The Vinoy Hotel was built in 1925 by Aymer Vinoy Laughner. Construction began on February 5 and took 10 months to complete. The hotel was a seasonal hotel, open from around December to March. Rates were $20.00 a night, the highest in the area at that time. Celebrities ranging from Babe Ruth, Herbert Hoover, Calvin Coolidge and James Stewart are known to have stayed there.
During World War II the hotel was taken over by the U.S. Army and used for a training school. After the war, the hotel was sold to Charles Alberding for $700,000. The hotel continued to prosper for the next couple of decades but fell out of favor and into decline and disrepair by the end of the 1960s.
In 1974, the Vinoy closed and most of its contents were sold at auction. The hotel sat vacant until the early 1990s when it was bought by a partnership between Renaissance Hotels and Resorts and the Vinoy Development Corporation. A $93 million renovation was undertaken, and in two years the Vinoy was reopened.
In 2005, the Vinoy earned AAA Four-Diamond status.
Paranormal activity
Over the years, there have been reports of ghost sightings and other supernatural events at the hotel. Some of the reports were by visiting major league baseball players and staff, who stayed at the Vinoy when in town to play the Tampa Bay Rays.
One of the reports came from a strength coordinator for the Pittsburgh Pirates. He described seeing a translucent apparition of a man near a desk in his room. Others have noted seeing a man dressed in formal attire walking the halls only to disappear without a trace.
References
External links
- Pinellas County listings at National Register of Historic Places
- Marriott Hotel History Vinoy Renaissance Resort and Golf Club
