The Seelbach Hotel

Hotel Exterior

An exterior shot of the front of the hotel.

Name Plaque

Lobby Grand Staircase

This ornate staircase takes one from the lobby to the second floor which features the hotel’s “Oak Room”.

Display Case

One of many decorations scattered around the first floor, this display case shows off some fine dish ware as well as awards that the hotel and it’s staff have won.

Hotel Bed

This simple but comfortable bed is typical of the room’s furnishings.

Lobby View

Looking towards the hotel’s main entrance.

Lobby Ceiling

Gatsby's

Exterior View

Looking south toward Louisville.

Lobby, 2nd Floor

Front Desk

Front Desk

Check-In At the Oakroom

Oak Room Lobby

Capone's Door

This innocent looking door is actually the basement exit to a secret passageway in Capone’s private area of the Oak Room.

Grand Clock

Located just outside of the Rathskeller.

Arched Ceilings of the Rathskeller

Decorative Columns in the Rathskeller

Decorate Wall Behind the Bar

Tile Work

Rathskeller Plaque

Rathskeller Entrance

Looking down from Capone’s basement exit, the Rathskeller door is to the left, Grand Clock is just above.

The Oak Room

Capone's 2-Way Mirror

Lighting Up Capone's Mirror

Stained Glass Windows in the Ballroom

Close-Up of Stained Glass

Chandeliers in the Ballroom

Fireplace in the Ballroom

Looking Down on Louisville from the Ballroom

Ballroom's Original Wood Floors Peaking Out From a Utility Room

The Elevator Shaft Where Ms. Wilson Met Her End

Elevator Shaft From First Floor

Family Shot in the Elevator

Another View of the Rathskeller

Room Service Food Slots Built Into the Room Doors

Pearl Elliot's Grave

Louisville Kentucky is no stranger to historic hotels.  Overlooking the Ohio River the luxurious Galt House combines modern elegance with local history and breathtaking views.  Less than a mile south down 4th Street one can enjoy the ambiance of Gilded Age design while eating Kentucky’s famous “Hot Brown” at the Brown Hotel where the dish was invented.  

Sandwiched in between those two titans of the local hotel scene is a magnificent piece of local history and architectural beauty.  Opened in 1905 the Seelbach Hotel has played host to 14 U.S. Presidents, gangsters Al Capone and Lucky Luciano, Robin Williams, and numerous other celebrities.  Most famously though, the hotel’s ornate “Rathskeller” bar was a frequent watering hole for American author F. Scott Fitzgerald.  The author would later use the Seelbach as the inspiration for the “Mulbach Hotel” in his most famous work “The Great Gatsby”.  Today the hotel lobby features a restaurant known as “Gatsby’s on Fourth” paying homage to their unique place in literary history.  

Second only to her literary notoriety, the Seelbach is perhaps most famous for the ghost of The Lady in Blue that haunts her hallways.  In 1936 Mrs. Patricia Wilson (buried under her maiden name of “Pearl” Elliot) was set to meet her estranged husband at the Seelbach in an effort to patch up their marriage.  Unfortunately her husband never made it to that meeting, having died in a car accident en route to their meeting.  Within a few days Mrs. Wilson’s body was found at the bottom of the service elevator shaft.  Some say she killed herself out of grief, others say her death was a tragic accident, while some believe she may have been murdered by a boyfriend who later turned out to be a serial killer.  If you’re not fortunate enough to make acquaintance with her ghostly blue apparition in the hotel's halls overnight, you can pay your respects at her grave at the nearby Evergreen Cemetery.  

If staying at the hotel, be sure to check-in at the front desk around 10pm.  The security guards who walk the halls all night, and know all of the hotel’s secrets, will give you a tour focusing on both its history as well as its otherworldly connections.  They’ll show you Capone’s private booth with it’s 2-way mirror and secret exits, the hotel’s gorgeous “Rathskeller” bar with secret tunnels that lead into the Louisville underground, the ballroom that directly inspired the wedding scene in Gatsby, and so much more.  

Although the Presidential Suite has met the needs of U.S. Presidents as recently as George W. Bush, the standard rooms are certainly not the most luxurious.  It’s clear that she’s from a much older time, the rooms feel more like a small Brooklyn apartment than they do a modern hotel room.  Conveniences are minimal (room, TV, bathroom, no mini-fridge).  That said though, this simply adds to the charm of the hotel.  If you’re spending your visit the right way, you’ll spend far more time enjoying the extravagant beauty of the hotel itself than the modest conditions of your room.  

Want to Experience This Adventure for Yourself?

The Seelbach Hotel: 500 S 4th St, Louisville, KY 40202

Patricia Wilson/Pearl Elliot’s Grave: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/28483898/patricia-wilson