1912 Classical Revival boutique hotel — originally the Mallory Hotel — whose spiritualist co-owner Lucy A. Rose Mallory is said to have left a psychic imprint that still draws shadow figures to rooms 209 and 708.
729 SW 15th Ave, Portland, OR 97205
Age
All Ages
Cost
$$
Boutique rates typically $130-$250/night; Hollywood-era themed property with 130 rooms.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Goose Hollow sidewalk approach; elevator throughout.
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1912 · Classical Revival Architecture · National Register of Historic Places · Lucy A. Rose Mallory — American Spiritualism · Rufus Mallory — U.S. Congressman 1867-1869
The Mallory Hotel was commissioned by Rufus Mallory (1831-1914), an Iowa-born attorney who moved to Oregon and served as the state's U.S. Representative from 1867 to 1869. By the time the hotel opened in 1912, Mallory was a prominent Portland lawyer; he died on April 30, 1914, only two years after the hotel's opening.
Mallory's wife Lucy A. Rose Mallory (1846-1920) — daughter of Roseburg founder Aaron Rose — was a nationally-known American writer, publisher, editor, and spiritualist. Her interests included suffragism, vegetarianism, and 'metaphysical experiences'; she had begun experimenting with astral projection as a child in southwestern Oregon in the 1850s and described one notable out-of-body experience at the 1905 Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition. After Rufus's death she became sole owner of the hotel and operated it until her own death in 1920.
The building was designed by architect Hans Hanselmann in the Classical Revival style and sits at 729 SW 15th Avenue in Portland's Goose Hollow neighborhood. After Lucy's death the hotel passed through multiple ownership groups across the twentieth century, eventually deteriorating before being purchased and renovated in 2004. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places on May 19, 2006, under its original Mallory Hotel name, and reopened the same year as Hotel deLuxe — a boutique property restyled around classic Hollywood cinema iconography by Provenance Hotels.
The property is currently operated by Pyramid Global Hospitality (as of December 2023). It houses the on-site Driftwood Room bar, a vintage-styled lounge popular with downtown patrons.
Sources
The Hotel deLuxe legend rests on a documented historical foundation rare in haunted-hotel lore: Lucy A. Rose Mallory was a verifiable, nationally-known nineteenth-century spiritualist whose published writings on astral projection and metaphysical experience were widely circulated in her lifetime. According to Portland Ghosts, she held seances in what was then the hotel parlor — now described as a vacant room — during the six years she ran the property after her husband's death.
Room 209 is the most-reported guest room. Former housekeepers, per Portland Ghosts, have described being uncomfortable cleaning the room: lights turning on and off, items moving on their own, and the soft sensation of an unseen hand brushing the shoulder when alone.
Room 708 has produced a more dramatic recurring report: a guest who frequently stayed at the hotel described seeing the outline of a woman with long hair, wearing a vintage dress, in the room — visible only for seconds before vanishing. Other accounts describe shadow figures, moving independently of any light source in the room, taking human shape and walking the main staircase or out the front doors.
TV sets are reported to turn on and off without input. Per Portland Ghosts, the cumulative narrative frames Lucy Mallory not as a malevolent presence but as a continuing psychic anchor for the building — a spiritualist owner whose practice on the property may, in the lore, have made it 'thinner' than typical.
Notable Entities
1912 Classical Revival boutique hotel in Portland's Goose Hollow neighborhood, restyled around classic Hollywood cinema by Provenance Hotels in 2006. Rooms 209 and 708 carry the strongest paranormal reputation.
Cocktails at the on-site Driftwood Room — a mid-century-styled bar adjacent to the lobby parlor area where Lucy Mallory is said to have held seances.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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