History with ‘Hud’: Marking 100 years since Cape Fear Hotel opened in downtown

January 9, 2025

Matthew Huddleston,

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — A historic building in downtown Wilmington is celebrating a major birthday this Friday. The Cape Fear Hotel Apartments at South Second and Chestnut Street opened 100 years ago on January 10, 1925. The building is still lived in today as the only surviving major downtown hotel built before World War Two, but serves a much different purpose than when first welcoming guests.

The push for a hotel at the site began in 1919, when the lot was first acquired. But initial plans fell apart and a new ownership group came in in 1922.

By 1925 the 150-room hotel was completed, and began serving as a place for nearby full hotels such as the Orton and Hotel Wilmington to send their overflow guests. It was built at a cost of $400,000 and designed by G. Lloyd Preacher, who also was the mind behind other major hotels in Charleston and Atlanta.

Each room had a private washroom and the hotel featured many amenities such as a dining room, coffee shop, ballroom, a ladies parlor and a barbershop. The first and most notable guest to stay at the Cape Fear Hotel was Roger Babson who was known as a famed economist and a one-time Prohibition Party Presidential candidate.

It quickly became the heart of business and civic life in Wilmington, even a frequent stomping ground to renowned NBC news anchor and Wilmington native, David Brinkley, who covered meetings in the hotel’s mezzanine for the StarNews.

In 1926 a new Stutz automobile was put on display in the lobby, attracting more than 1,000 visitors. A 1938 addition allowed for more guests, with 35 more rooms being added.

When World War Two began in the 1940s, the building was called into service. Due to its height, the rooftop became an official Aircraft Warning Service observation post and was manned 24 hours a day, seven days a week by volunteers looking for any approaching aircraft. The U.S. Army also overtook the hotel’s café in order to use it as a women’s Army Corps mess hall.

Following the war, the hotel returned to a prominent destination for visitors. In 1958, many pageant winners involved in the local Azalea Festival were put up during the event, which became the unofficial hotel for the festival for years.

It’s not clear when the hotel stopped welcoming visitors for a night or two at a time. But by the 1980s, the hotel had been transformed into affordable housing for seniors. A rather uneventful few decades followed before Hurricane Florence rolled through.

The storm damaged the top few floors of the 9-story structure in 2018, with it taking several years for restoration efforts to be finished.

Through ups and downs, the Cape Fear Hotel Apartment building has stood the test of time in downtown. It will likely remain a prominent piece of the skyline for many years to come.