Goodnight Raleigh - a look at the art, architecture, history, and people of the city at night

Raleigh’s ‘Second Round Building’ — the Holiday Inn (Downtown) [Updated]

A few weeks ago we published a postcard depicting Raleigh’s Woman’s Club on Hillsboro St. in the 1940s. This Holiday Inn, the “area’s first round inn,” was built on the site in 1969.

Thursday 11.30 pm
Aloha: —
Got here OK for 1st lap. Tomorrow will try for Jacksonville. Weather mostly cloudy — rain.
Grandpa

No stamp — looks like grandpa forgot to mail the card.

Holiday Inn Downtown
Near State Capitol and Legislative Bldg., area’s first round inn. 204 rooms, all color TV. VIP suites, rooftop restaurant, club, outdoor heated pool. Meeting and banquet rooms for 400 persons.

The description omitted what may be considered the “rooftop” restaurant’s finest amenity — the spectacular view of downtown Raleigh.

In case you’re wondering, Harrelson Hall on the NC State campus was Raleigh’s first ’round building.’

Today’s postcard is an example of a ‘photo chrome.’ It was published by Curt Teich under the name ‘Curteichcolor.’

Curt Teich Co.   1893-1974
Chicago, IL
A major publisher and printer. Their U.S. factories turned out more cards in quantity than any other printer. They published a wide range of national view-cards of America and Canada. Many consider them one of the finest producers of White Border Cards. The Linen Type postcard came about through their innovations as they pioneered the use of offset lithography. They were purchased by Regensteiner Publishers in 1974 which continued to print cards at the Chicago plant until 1978.

[UPDATE]
Addendum — A major architectural feature of the Holiday Inn was severely altered in the 1990s (I think.) Anybody care to guess what it was? (Clue: It’s not the sign.)