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The Chalfonte-Haddon Hall Hotel is a hotel in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

The Chalfonte Hotel^[1] was built in 1868 for clients Elisha and Elizabeth Roberts. They purchased a plot of land at North Carolina Avenue and The Boardwalk, Atlantic City, Atlantic County, NJ from a Mr. John DaCosta for $6500.00. The Chalfonte Hotel was constructed during the winter for a cost of $21,000 and could accommodate 140 guests. ^[2][3] The hotel was designed by architect L. Adrian Doe (April 21, 1896 — September 27, 1981).^[4] His notable works included the Strand Hotel Atlantic City, Atlantic County, New Jersey and proposed alterations to the Philadelphia music academy. Elisha and Elizabeth Roberts later sold the building to the Leeds and Lippincott families. In 1929 two Quaker families, the Leeds and the Lippincotts owned two hotels side by side on the boardwalk. The original buildings were separate structures- the Chalfonte^[5] and Haddon Hall.^[6] When researching the structures they have often been confused and or merged as one building under one name as in this article. Electricity was added to the city in July 1882 and tourism began to boom.^[7]

Library of Congress building

Haddon Hall Hotel

The Haddon Hall building was erected circa 1893 and the two properties were merged to form the Chalfonte-Haddon Hall Hotel under the Leeds and Lippincott Co. Architect Addison Hutton (1834—1916)^[8] was commissioned to design the Haddon Hall hotel building. His other noteworthy projects include the Jefferson Building at the Library of Congress, the Lippincott residence at North Carolina Avenue and Pacific Avenue, Atlantic City, NJ, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (118 - 126 North Broad Street),^[9] and Pennsylvania State Capitol building^[10] among many others.The Chalfonte-Haddon Hall consisted of 1,000 rooms and was 15 stories tall. At the time of its completion it was the city's largest hotel by capacity.

Resorts International-a former paint company {3} began investing in hotels when it made its first move into what would become its major arena of business, the company acquired Leeds & Lippincott Company, which owned Chalfont-Haddon Hall. Resorts purchased 67 percent of Leeds & Lippincott inc. in August 1976, and completed the acquisition the following month, paying a total of $2.489 million and by May 1, 1978, the 1000 rooms of the Chalfonte - Haddon Hall were reduced to 566 to allow for a casino, restaurants, shops, and to meet the cities required 325 square foot minimum for each guest room.^[11] The Chalfonte was demolished in 1980 to make room for a parking lot for the newly remodeled Resorts Atlantic City.

In 1943 under the command of Col. Robert C. McDonald, M.C., (November 27, 1943—June 30,1944) Haddon Hall was used as Atlantic City Air Forces Training & Reception Center Hospital.The mayor at the time Tom Taggart was quoted in the local press as saying the city was turned into a military basic training and medical command center. More than 40 of the local hotels were taken over by the United States Military and titled command center #7. The following is a list of just a few hotels used: Haddon Hall, Chalfonte, Cedarcraft, Keystone, New England, Rydal, and Warwick Hotels, a large six-story garage, a power plant, and a laundry to the 1272nd Service Command Service Unit.^[12] Very few records are available about this time in the buildings history. Shortly after construction was completed a hardball squash court was erected on the 15th floor of the Chalfonte Hotel by Jack Lippincott and Bob Leeds two sons of the proprietors, it remained the only court of its kind on the South Jersey coast up until the 1990s. According to the Mrs. Lippincott squash caught on rather slowly, but by the 1940s it was main stream and tournaments were held there annually until 2001.In 2001 at the last tournament the Chalfonte-Haddon Hall squash team was the oldest team in the country. ^[13]

The first meeting of the Section on Surgery of the American Academy of Pediatrics was held in the Chalfonte-Haddon Hall Hotel, Atlantic City, N.J., on Nov. 21, 1948.^[14]

President Nixon spoke there on June 22, 1971 at approximately 11:15 a.m. in front of the Chalfonte-Haddon Hall Hotel.^[15]

Reference-Historic American Buildings Survey (Library of Congress) Documentation compiled after 1933. http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/hhh.nj0889

Here are some links to historic photo's of the buildings stored at the library of congress:

• The Chalfonte dolphin fountain[1]
• The Entrance at the board walk[2]
• A suite[3]
• The Famous Carolina room[4]
• A view from the water[5]
• The hotel loby[6]

1. ^ http://memory.loc.gov/pnp/habshaer/nj/nj0800/nj0889/photos/106730pv.jpg
2. ^ http://memory.loc.gov/pnp/habshaer/nj/nj0800/nj0889/data/009.tif
3. ^ http://memory.loc.gov/pnp/habshaer/nj/nj0800/nj0889/data/010.tif
4. ^ http://www.philadelphiabuildings.org/pab/app/ar_display.cfm/22653
5. ^ http://www.philadelphiabuildings.org/pab/app/image_gallery.cfm/51203
6. ^ http://www.philadelphiabuildings.org/pab/app/image_gallery.cfm?RecordId=1B50E3AE-69BE-4232-B7494729A7A3F686&ShowAll=9999
7. ^ http://www.atlantic-city-online.com/history/history.shtml
8. ^ http://www.philadelphiabuildings.org/pab/app/ar_display.cfm/25239
9. ^ http://www.philadelphiabuildings.org/pab/app/pj_display.cfm/20387
10. ^ http://www.philadelphiabuildings.org/pab/app/pj_display.cfm/17944 and
11. ^ http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/Resorts-International-Inc-Company-History.html
12. ^ http://venus.atlantic.edu/amatol/thesis_home.html
13. ^ James Zug. July 1, 2001 Courtesy Atlantic City Squash Archives**note according to the real estate archives this article has the names of the hotels reversed
14. ^ http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/content/abstract/3/5/667
15. ^ http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=3050

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