Looking up at the Bellevue – South Broad Street at Walnut, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

The Bellevue is a landmark building at 200 South Broad Street at the corner of Walnut Street in Center City, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The building opened in 1904. Over two years in the making and costing over $8,000,000 (in 1904 dollars), the Bellevue-Stratford was described at the time as the most luxurious hotel in the nation and perhaps the most spectacular hotel building in the world. It initially had 1,090 guest rooms, the most magnificent ballroom in the United States, delicate lighting fixtures designed by Thomas Edison, Tiffany and Lalique glass embellishments, and the most celebrated marble and hand-worked iron elliptical staircase in the city.

A massive renovation in 1979 transformed converted the hotel rooms from floors 2 to 11 into office space. The grand public areas on the ground floor were converted to shops. The hotel portion reopened in 1989 as Hotel Atop the Bellevue, with guest rooms on floors 12-18 and a lobby and public rooms on the remodeled 19th floor. The two domed ballrooms on that floor (the South and North Cameo rooms), were turned into the Ethel Barrymore Tea Room and a restaurant called Founders.

From its beginning, the Bellevue-Stratford was the center of Philadelphia’s cultural, social and business activities. It soon functioned as a sort of clubhouse for the Philadelphia establishment, not only a place where the rich and powerful dined and occasionally slept, but also the venue for their meetings and social functions. Charity balls, society weddings, club meetings and special family gatherings have all been held in the hotel’s ballrooms and meeting rooms. The rich and famous, royalty and heads of state from all over the world, presidents, politicians, actors and famous writers have stayed within its walls. All U.S. Presidents from Theodore Roosevelt through Ronald Reagan have been guests at the hotel, which is respectfully called the "Grand Dame of Broad Street."