Monticello Hotel (Longview)
The Monticello Hotel is a hotel and apartment building in Longview, Washington. It was given to the city by founder R. A. Long in the early 1920s.
Early photographs seen in Longview indicate its original name was "Hotel Monticello," and the large sign on the roof was rearranged when the name was changed. Several other hotels named Hotel Monticello exist in the Washington, D.C. area. The Hotel in Longview is probably named after the historic "Monticello Memorial" document, signed in the tiny settlement of Monticello, Oregon Territory at the time, near the site of the Hotel, petitioning the US Congress to grant the residents north of the Columbia River a separate territory, which ultimately led to the establishment of Washington Territory and Washington state. Monticello itself is a reference to Thomas Jefferson's estate in Virginia.
The building contains an intact original lobby area with dark hardwood paneling, above which are a series of oil paintings by Joe Knowles depicting the early years of the settlement of western North America, including depictions of the Marcus Whitman expedition rafting the lower Columbia River and portraits of many early American notables such as John McLoughlin of the Hudson's Bay Company.
Today the Hotel is mostly occupied by businesses and apartments; only a few rooms remain available to travelers and are expensive suites. Adjacent to the Hotel is a motel, that was added in the late 1950s, with minimal, inexpensive rooms. The restaurant in the main Hotel building has closed. The ballroom contains one of the original chandeliers but otherwise has been remodeled. Much of the Hotel's business today seems to be from functions in its ballroom.
In popular culture
Hotel Hell covered the hotel in an episode of the series, broadcast on July 28, 2014, on U.S. Fox television network.
Coordinates: 46°08′22″N 122°56′24″W / 46.13944°N 122.94000°W