Flanders Hotel Ocean City NJ
by Beth Ferris Sale
Title
Flanders Hotel Ocean City NJ
Artist
Beth Ferris Sale
Medium
Photograph - Photography
Description
The History of “The Flanders Hotel”
In 1922 a group of New Jersey entrepreneurs met at the Atlantic City Country Club and formed the Ocean Front Hotel Corporation with the purpose of building a stately seaside hotel that would compete with the best hotels in American, provide a resting place for successful businessmen and their families, one that would combine all the modern conveniences and yet maintain an air of elegance suitable to their positions. The result of the meeting was the Flanders Hotel, named for the American Cemetery in Belgium where soldiers killed in World War 1 are buried. The Flanders was built in the Spanish Mission Revival style that would later be copied by other local establishments, the Chatterbox, The Music Pier, The Golden Galleon’s shops on the boardwalk and Grace Kelly’s family home at 26th and Wesley. The hotel set the classic tone for the town.
Vivian Smith a local architect of national renown designed the hotel. He was also responsible for the Ocean City Music Pier, Ocean City’s City Hall, Ocean City High School, Ventnor City Hall and a number of finer hotels on the Atlantic City Boardwalk, at the time America’s playground and the most popular resort town in the country. Many of his buildings are now on the National Register of Historic Places.
The Flanders is constructed of steel girders and concrete, and was billed as “fireproof” a major consideration at the time. In October 1927, there was a fire on the boardwalk and several blocks were destroyed: the hotel, however, survived intact and in the aftermath an extension was added to the front of the hotel and connected it with the new boardwalk constructed a block closer to the ocean. A large saltwater swimming pool was added and became a landmark for decades.
The stock market crash in 1929 caused economic hardship for the corporation and hotel ownership was assumed by Elwood Kirkman in 1932. Despite the hard times Kirkman maintained the hotel in its grand manner and first class status. Over the years guests included such luminaries and Vice-President Charles Curtis, the three Lit brothers of department store frame, cartoonist Al Capp, actor Jimmy Stewart, and of course, Grace Kelly. The Flanders maintained its reputation as the Jewel of the Jersey Shore.
After Kirkman died, his family sold off the property in parcels. Other plans were devised to make the hotel into a retirement community, but the city wanted to maintain the hotel as one of the city’s premier landmark attractions. James M. Dwyer purchased the Flanders in 1996, remodeled the rooms as condominium units and restored the hotel to much of its former grandeur. The Drifters and the Coasters performed at the hotel’s grand reopening on Labor day 1997, a function that was attended by then New Jersey Governor Christie Whitman. The hotel currently operates as an all suites luxury ocean front boardwalk hotel.
Beginning in 2003, Ocean City Partners had shared ownership of this elegant property with the Flanders Condominium Association, as the emergence of this grand hotel to its early twentieth century elegance. As of January 2010, The Flanders Condominium Association has acquired the 2nd floor banquet center, offices, conference rooms and adjacent parking lot (formerly owned by Ocean City Partners).
The acquisition boosts owner values and marks an exciting return to the fundamental concept behind this historic grand hotel. The purchase reunited all of the Flanders’ stunning facilities under common ownership, and restored seamless cohesion to the operation of the hotel’s wide array of services. The hotel has undergone many modifications since it opened, and the millions of dollars invested in the building over the past four years have completely refreshed the hotel’s striking exterior, modernizing and beautifying the guest suites, pool and deck.
The Building was added to the National Register of Historic Places on November 20, 2009. Today the hotel has taken on a new face but one that is still recognizable to the hosts of visitors that come to Ocean City each summer.
Uploaded
August 20th, 2014
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