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Taylor Hotel Collection

Stewart Bell Jr. Archives
Handley Regional Library
Winchester-Frederick County Historical Society
P.O. Box 58, Winchester, VA 22604
(540) 662-9041 ext. 17
archives@handleyregional.org
www.handleyregional.org

1145 THL

SCOPE AND CONTENT: This collection contains reports and news articles from 1859 to the present concerning the historic Taylor Hotel in Winchester, Virginia. Articles will cover the many uses of this building and its renovation.
(1 box) Last updated 10/15.

BIOGRAPHICAL/HISTORICAL: Located at 129 North Loudoun Street, the first hotel located at the site was opened by Edward McGuire in 1755. After McGuire’s death, the property was sold to Bushrod Taylor who constructed the Taylor Hotel, which opened its doors for business around 1836 and closed in 1911 when it was sold to the J. G. McCrory Company. They operated a dime store, and a movie theater there until 1995. Since then variety of businesses, none of which lasted long, have operated on the site. After sitting vacant for several years, the building’s roof collapsed in 2007. Several organizations have united with plans for the building’s renovation, but funding has been slow. In its hay-day during the mid-19th Century, the Taylor Hotel was considered the finest hotel in the area, and among its guests were Andrew Jackson, Henry Clay, Stephen A. Douglas, Stonewall Jackson, and several Union generals. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: The Winchester Star, January 2, and March 22, 2011, Images of the Past, A Photographic Review of Winchester and Frederick County, Virginia, Winchester, VA: Winchester-Frederick County Historical Society, 1980.

CITE AS: Taylor Hotel Collection 1145, Stewart Bell Jr. Archives, Handley Regional Library, Winchester, VA, USA.

ORGANIZATION:

BOX 1

“Intensive Level Documentation of the Taylor Hotel”, Prepared for the City of Winchester Office of Economic Redevelopment by Anne Stuart Beckett, May 16, 2012, 21 leaves, printed (photocopy)

“Spot Blight and the Taylor Hotel, What Fate Awaits the Landmark”, Preservation of Historic Winchester, Inc., Vol. 43, No. 1 (Spring, 2011), 5 leaves, printed

News Clippings – 1859-2000, unnumbered leaves, printed (photocopy)

News Clippings – 2001-present, unnumbered leaves, printed (photocopy)