Mount Washington Hotel Virtual Tour
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Quick Links:
- Click here for a quick look at Mount Washington Hotel. A very short tour for those in a hurry.
- Information for Planning Your Visit to Mount Washington Hotel Description of the facilities, amenities offered in guest rooms, directions, maps, more. All the information you need to help you plan a visit.
- References/ Bibliography. Sources for additional information on the lodge for those who want to research even deeper than what is offered here.
The Main Level
The main entrance to the hotel (this is the left door). Unimpressed? That's the idea!
Note the rather plain front doors. This is an architectural trick. While driving up to the hotel you would certainly be impressed, and possibly even over-whelmed, by the massive exterior. The unimpressive front doors provide visual relief, a moment for your eyes to rest, and a lowering of expectations. The result is that when you step through the doors and see the Great Hall just inside, the hall seems even more impressive!
Here's a floor plan to help you get your bearings. Floor plan courtesy of Mount Washington Resort.
The Great Hall
View from the main entrance left door as you enter the Great Hall. The Conservatory is the bright room in the back.
If you enter from the right front door this is the view.
Fireplace in the Great Hall.
The best view of The Great Hall is from the Ballroom end.
This grandfather clock is an original furnishing, it is almost 200 years old. The tradition was that each season the first guest to check in starting the clock, at the close of the season the last guest to check out would stop the clock. The hotel is now open year-round so the clock runs all year.
Looking down the length of The Great Hall. That's one of the front doors on the left.
The hotel front desk.
The carpets in the great hall feature flowers that are indigenous to the hotel area.
The Ballroom
Virtual Reality Panorama of Ballroom:
If you have the Quicktime plug-in installed on your computer a photo will appear above. Hold down your left mouse button over the photo and drag it to move around the room in the photo. Note: If no photo appears, you either don't have Quicktime installed or you have ActiveX/Javascript blocked. To get the free Quicktime player plug-in, click here. To allow ActiveX controls click on a yellow bar with a security warning at the top of this webpage.
To see a standard panorama photo of the ballroom, click here.
Looking at the ballroom doors from inside the ballroom. The colored glass is all original, genuine Tiffany glass.
The Gold Room
The Gold Room. In 1944 delegates from 44 countries met here for the Bretton Woods International Monetary Conference. The World Bank was established and a gold standard of $35.00 (USD) an ounce was set at the meeting and remained the standard for 25 years. The hotel had fallen on hard times through the Great Depression and fallen into disrepair. In addition it had been closed since 1942 (due to World War II), so it needed to be completely refurbished for the conference. Government workers were sent to paint, repair and clean. The repairs served as a kick start to getting the hotel ready to reopened to the public again in 1947.
The Conservatory
Virtual Reality Panorama of the Conservatory:
The piano, chairs and tables are all original hotel furnishings.
If you have the Quicktime plug-in installed on your computer a photo will appear above. Hold down your left mouse button over the photo and drag it to move around the room in the photo.
To see a standard panorama photo of the Conservatory, click here.
Executive Hall
Joseph Stickney passed away in 1903, shortly after the hotel opened, and the operation of the hotel was assumed by his widow, Caroline Foster Stickney. In 1908 Caroline remarried to Prince Lucinge of France, making her a princess. She later acquired additional hotels in France and Switzerland. She operated the Mount Washington until her death at which time her nephew, Foster Reynolds, took control of the hotel.
The hotel offices and a couple of small conference rooms are located in the north-west wing, called Executive Hall. Note the balcony, which is shown in the photo below. The door on the far right, with red wall adjacent, is the entrance to the Princess dining Room.
At one time this was an actual balcony above the entrance to the executive wing of the hotel. The balcony opened from one of the Princess' private rooms behind it. The room has now been walled off, and this painting of the Princess (Caroline Foster Stickney) now graces the balcony From this balcony she used to watch her guests as they arrived for dinner. A shear curtain allowed her to see out but prevented them from seeing in. There's more on this topic below.
Dining rooms
Main Dining Room
Entry to the Main Dining room. The entrance to the Princess Dining Room is on the left out of the photo. Just barely visible on the right is the elevator.
The Main Dining Room. Most of the chairs are original furnishings from the hotel.
The Main Dining Room. The carpet is a exact reproduction of the original.
One of the Tiffany stained glass windows in the Main Dining Room.
An original gas lamp in the Dining Room. The hotel was built with electric lighting, however gas lamps were also installed in the dining room to add atmosphere.
Princess Dining Room
The princess lounge. Formerly the private dining room of Princess Faucigny-Lucinge who owned and operated the hotel from 1904-1936. VIP guests were invited to dine with the princess in this dining room.
Ornate ceiling of the Princess Dining Room. The chandelier is original.
The Princess' Secret:
When guests were invited to dine with the princess, it would seem she always was the best-dressed lady at dinner. This was no accident, as she always was the last to arrive for dinner. She watched her guests arrive from the balcony of a darkened room, looking out through a sheer curtained window that allowed her to see out, without them seeing her watching. She would then pick her outfit for the evening after seeing what the other ladies were wearing! A photo of the balcony where she stood is a few pictures up on this page.
Sun Dining Room
The Sun Dining Room has very ornate trim. It was added to the hotel in 1906.
A breakfast buffet is served in the Sun Dining Room each morning.
Breakfast in the Sun Dining Room.
Detail of the stained glass in the Sun Dining Room.
Ammonoosuc Dining Room
The small private Ammonoosuc Dining Room. Named after the Ammonoosuc River that flows behind the hotel.
Oddities
Even the electrical switch box gets a dressed-up cabinet!
Next, we'll head downstairs to Stickney Street, also called the patio level.
More... click here for the next page of the tour!
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Help!
If you notice any errors on this page, or have additional information you would like to share, please let us know. Write to Jess at the email address below. If reporting an error it really helps if you can be as specific as possible, and if possible, please give us the name of the page with the error.
Know of a historic hotel or lodge we should include?
We are looking for historic hotels and lodges to add to this website. If you know of one that you think we should tour and review, please let us know. We're particularly interested in hotels in States we haven't visited: AR, DE, FL, GA, IA, ID, KS, MD, MN, MO, NE, NJ, OH, OK, SC. If you own or manage a historic hotel this is free advertising! Contact Jess Stryker at the email address above.
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