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This blog series is made possible through a partnership with Historic Mobile Preservation Society (HMPS.) HMPS’s archive collection, housed on the Oakleigh Complex in the Minnie Mitchell Archives building, is a treasure of inspiration and knowledge. Please support HMPS’s efforts in preserving not only the rich architectural legacy of our city, but the documents, literature, photographs, and more that tell Mobile’s colorful history. The historic photos in this post are used with the permission of Historic Mobile Preservation Society for the purpose of education and enlightenment in the “Fragments Observed: Life During Mobile’s Progressive Era” blog series.

For more information about HMPS and their mission, please visit:
https://www.historicmobile.org/

And for their online archives, including requests to use photographs from their collection:
https://historicmobile.catalogaccess.com/home

Situated on the southeast corner of Royal and St. Francis Streets since 1852, the Battle House has seen several rebuilds, restorations, and upgrades since it took the place of the former hotel at that corner. The Waverly hotel burned during an 1850 fire, a fate that would be in the future of the next building as well.

As seen in the above photo from the turn-of-the-century, the pre-1905 Battle House was five stories and boasted iron lace trim on the second-floor balcony. It served as the preferred guest spot for visiting dignitaries, as well as acting as a local social center for Mardi Gras balls, dining, and more. My characters in Perilous Confessions, the first book in The Possession Chronicles, have several scenes doing those exact things within the Battle House during the winter of 1904-05. One of those events was inspired by this notice I found in the 1905 newspaper when going through the Press Register microfilms on one of my many research trips to the Mobile Public Library’s Local History and Genealogy branch. It refers to the first Friday in February:

I love including real events in my fiction. In the case of publisher Mr. Neale, I changed his name to Mr. Noble but held the fictional character’s visit on the same day as the real one. Nine days after this visit, on the cold night of February twelfth, a fire started in a supposedly unoccupied room in the latter half of the ten o’clock hour. As the fire raged, thousands of Mobilians gathered to watch the roof collapse and the whole hotel being consumed by the blaze, despite the firefighters’ efforts (which at least kept the blaze to only the hotel property.) I used the fire as the backdrop of an emotionally charged incident in Perilous Confessions.

The Battle House was rebuilt with more splendor than the previous hotel. This photo, most likely from 1907-8, shows the re-construction. Notice the upper level isn’t finished—and that the hotel is already a few stories taller than the previous one.

After reopening in 1908, the now taller and more opulent hotel welcomed back visitors and locals alike. They even had their own orchestra that gave performances—something I worked into Scarred Memories, The Possession Chronicles book 4, which is set during the autumn and winter of 1910-11. The Trellis Room, which is in operation today, advertised in the local newspapers, as seen in this 1910 ad, which I also came across on the same research trip when I discovered the tidbit about the Battle House Orchestra.

Notice how modern the artwork is. And the fact that the text is catering to men, encouraging them to bring their future bride to dine at the hotel so the woman knows he will expect good meals after the wedding. Advertising always had an angle. Here’s a photo of the interior of the restaurant during its new lifetime.

The Tiffany glass roof in the Trellis Room is still there today.

And the lobby, with the rotunda, is as glorious as ever these days. Here are a few photographs I have taken in recent years.

When downtown, I often walk into the lobby and absorb the grandeur and revel in the fact that I’m where my characters were. I’ve been fortunate to have been able to stay at the hotel once, as well as dine at the Trellis Room a few times, and hope to do both again in the future.

Have you ever visited the Battle House?