Beaux-Arts luxury hotel opened October 31, 1895, in downtown Richmond; AAA Five Diamond property where staff, guests, and comedian Wanda Sykes have reported paranormal phenomena.
101 W Franklin St, Richmond, VA 23220
Age
All Ages
Cost
$$$$
Luxury rates typically $350-700+/night depending on season and room category. Public spaces and afternoon tea accessible to non-guests.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Fully accessible historic luxury hotel with elevators.
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1895 · National Historic Landmark (1969) · Designed by Carrère and Hastings · AAA Five Diamond rating · Marriott Autograph Collection · Opened October 31, 1895
The Jefferson Hotel opened on Halloween 1895, financed by tobacco magnate Major Lewis Ginter as the centerpiece of his vision to make Richmond a destination city. The hotel was designed by John Carrère and Thomas Hastings (the same firm that designed the New York Public Library) in Beaux-Arts style, with a mix of Italian Renaissance and Spanish Baroque elements. At opening, it featured electricity throughout, hot and cold running water, and an interior atrium famous for its life-size Edward Valentine sculpture of Thomas Jefferson.
A major 1901 fire gutted the eastern half of the building. It was rebuilt in 1907 with the now-iconic grand staircase, often cited as the inspiration for the Gone with the Wind staircase though no direct evidence supports that claim. The hotel survived a major Depression-era downturn and a difficult mid-twentieth century, finally being restored to luxury status in the 1980s.
The Jefferson has hosted U.S. presidents, foreign dignitaries, and a long roster of celebrities. It became a Marriott Autograph Collection property and earned the AAA Five Diamond rating, one of a small number of hotels worldwide to do so. The property has been a National Historic Landmark since 1969.
The site predates the hotel by a few decades: the Jefferson was built on the grounds of a Franklin Street mansion. Like most of downtown Richmond at the time, the surrounding neighborhood had been the heart of the antebellum city; the hotel itself opened thirty years after the end of the Civil War, which complicates one of the most-cited ghost reports (see Legends below).
Sources
The most consistent activity reported at the Jefferson centers on the lower-level women's restroom. Haunts of Richmond conducted a paranormal investigation in 2009 and reported EVP capture of what investigators interpreted as a young girl's laughter and call-and-response activity. Staff over the years have described switchboards lighting up on their own, ringing pay phones in long-empty corridors, dishes moving in service areas, and televisions cycling on and off in unoccupied rooms.
In April 2015, comedian Wanda Sykes appeared on The Ellen DeGeneres Show and described seeing an apparition she identified as 'an old black woman' in her room at the Jefferson after a Richmond performance. Sykes said she had been drinking and acknowledged the account would sound implausible, but described the figure as appearing more surprised than threatening. Style Weekly and WTVR CBS6 both covered the story, as did The Blaze and tumblr coverage of the segment.
A point of historical nuance: the Jefferson Hotel was built thirty years after the abolition of slavery in Virginia. NBC12 personality Curt Autry publicly noted on his Facebook page that the building's construction post-dates emancipation, meaning the apparition Sykes described as an enslaved woman could not, strictly speaking, have lived or died in the existing structure. The figure could plausibly be tied to the antebellum Franklin Street mansion that previously occupied the site, but this connection is not documented.
The Jefferson's official position has been measured. A high-level hotel source told reporters following the Sykes story that they were 'very surprised' and 'not aware of any ghosts.' The hotel does not market the property as haunted.
Notable Entities
Media Appearances
Book a room in the 1895 Beaux-Arts hotel. The Rotunda, Palm Court, and Grand Staircase are open to the public; the lower-level women's restroom has been the most consistent location of reported activity.
Lemaire and TJ's restaurants operate inside the hotel; afternoon tea in the Palm Court remains a Richmond tradition.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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