Continental Hotel - Chestnut at Ninth - Pennsylvania Historical Review 1886

The Continental Hotel, J. E. Kingsley & Co., Proprietors, Chestnut Street, corner of Ninth Street.—The Continental Hotel was erected by a stock company in 1859-60 in order to fill a long-felt want, by supplying Philadelphia with a strictly first-class hotel. No more desirable location could have been chosen for the erection of such a splendid building, and the edifice has ever since been one of the most prominent in the city. With a frontage of one hundred and ninety-four feet on Chestnut Street it extends along Ninth Street for two hundred and thirty-five feet through to Sansom Street, covering an area of over forty-one thousand square feet. The Chestnut and Ninth Street fronts are six stories high, while the rear on Sansom Street is eight stories in height, the handsome front of Nova Scotia being of sandstone and the finest pressed brick. The architects of the Continental gave the greatest attention in their plans to securing the maximum of light, space and ventilation, and succeeded admirably, as demonstrated in the cheerful halls and rotunda, corridors, reception rooms and parlors. The main hall entered from Chestnut Street is eighteen feet wide by one hundred and eighty-five feet in length, and at its central portion is the rotunda, 88 by78 feet in dimensions. The rooms, which are for the most part en suite, are elegantly furnished, and are the most commodious, cheerful and luxurious in the city. The two main dining-halls are magnificent apartments, beautifully lighted and handsomely decorated, having a floorspace of 7,000 square feet. There are in the Continental upwards of five hundred rooms at the public service, the great majority of which are constantly taken, so great is the popularity and desirability of this hotel as a stopping place. Messrs. J. E. Kingsley 8: Co. have recently thoroughly renovated and refurbished every comfort and artistic beauty of the parlors, reception and dining-rooms, as well as the private suites, are unsurpassed. Although the Continental holds the lead, and is the recognized representative hotel in this city, yet its prices are extremely moderate, and cannot be equaled for the splendid accommodations afforded. Mr. Kingsley succeeded to the proprietorship in 1863, upon the retirement of Messrs. J. E. Stevens & Co. Mr. Kingsley is associated in co-partnership with Mr. E. F. Kingsley and Col. H. S. Brown. They are gentlemen of a wide range of practical experience, and thoroughly understand the art of hotel keeping. They are likewise the proprietors of the famous Wissahickon Hotel, at Chestnut Hill. on the line of the Pennsylvania railroad, which they hope in the near future to be able to keep open the entire year. and meet the wishes of thousands of Philadelphians and parties from elsewhere. This famous hotel is managed on the same high standard of excellence for which the Continental is proverbial, The Messrs. Kingsley & Co. are among the most popular and best-known hotel men in the United States. Their well-directed efforts have met with there cognition and patronage of the best classes of the community, inclusive of the president and cabinet officers, senators and members of Congress, diplomats and foreign travelers of distinction whenever they visit Philadelphia. It has been a “home“ for many of our wealthy citizens, and is today, thanks to the enterprise of the esteemed proprietors, one of the most creditable and successful exponents of the highest type of the modern, first class hotel.