INDIANAPOLIS — When Embassy Suites opened its downtown location 40 years ago, it became the third hotel to occupy the northwest corner of Illinois and Washington streets.
The hotel boasted 348 luxury suites and 12 top-level penthouses, all overlooking a 15-story atrium. It was the city’s first all-suite hotel. The 18-story building was part of Claypool Court, a mixed-use space that also housed retail shops and restaurants.
WRTV’s Barbara Boyd took viewers on a tour of the suites, which featured kitchenettes, two telephones, and two televisions in every suite.
The Claypool name was a nod to the Claypool Hotel, which stood at the same site for more than 60 years. The Claypool Hotel was billed as the finest hotel in the country when it opened in 1902, with an unheard-of feature at the time: bathtubs in every room.
The Claypool served as headquarters for the state’s major political parties for many years. Guests included Will Rogers, Ray Harroun, Babe Ruth, and Presidents Wilson, Coolidge, Franklin Roosevelt, and John Kennedy. But the Claypool Hotel also had a lurid side, serving as the backdrop of several notorious murders.
The beginning of the end of the Claypool Hotel came in 1967 when a fire damaged much of the structure. The hotel was demolished two years later.
But the hotel's demise was turned into a celebration. Billed as the Destruction Ball, guests partied at the site with demolition contractor Ed Zebrowski providing champagne. At midnight, everyone moved outside for fireworks and to watch the first swing of the wrecking ball.
WRTV’s Howard Caldwell took viewers on a trip back to the Claypool Hotel in this story from February 1985.
Caldwell also noted the historical significance of the Claypool site, which previously housed the the Bates House, a site Abraham Lincoln once stayed.
It was only fitting that a Lincoln impersonator was on hand when the Embassy Suites opened in February 1985.
