West Baden's beautiful resort offers plenty of amenities and luxury while also proudly displaying its remarkable history and return from devastating neglect.
A Full Scale Resort on Conde Nast Traveler List
Since its restoration to a full-scale resort serving overnight guests, West Baden’s 243 guest rooms and suites have been designed to fit modern sensibilities. In the original layout, guest rooms were quite small and meager by current standards as befit the era.
With its return to life as a resort, West Baden has earned Gold List Designation in 2009 and the status as the 15th best resort on the Conde Nast Traveler List in 2010. While many guests enjoy the feeling of luxury, the hotel's early designation as the Eighth Wonder of the World and its role in the Jazz Age adds a special sparkle to the experience.
Some of the rooms offer atrium views or even a balcony overlooking the vast atrium. Guests can enjoy the spa and restaurant on the property or tee off on the golf course located on the expansive grounds. West Baden also has riding stables for pleasant horse riding on the wooded grounds in addition to a pool and fitness center.
The hotel hosts kids’ events during the week with bowling alley parties and other fun things for kids to do.
Roaring 1920s Sparkled in Small Indiana Town
Located in a triangle formed by Evansville, Indianapolis and Louisville, West Baden attracts many guests from Chicago and other Midwestern spots because of its stellar reputation for overnight guests.
During its intial heyday, West Baden Springs Hotel hosted Hollywood stars, Chicago gangsters such as Al Capone, and politicians such as New York Governor Alfred E. Smith in the early twentieth century as fame of its trendy “medicinal” spring waters grew.
Boxer John L. Sullivan trained there and noted Indiana native Paul Dresser also frequented the resort.
West Baden as Eighth Wonder of the World
West Baden Springs became known as the Eighth Wonder of the World when an enormous domed hotel rose from the ashes of the earlier wooden structure that burned on the site.
For many years, the 200 foot wide dome was the largest free-spanning dome in the United States and the structure was built according to owner Lee Sinclair's specifications to withstand the fire that claimed an earlier hotel.
The dome contains several glass windows allowing natural light into the atrium below and the walls glow with restored paintings set as a backdrop for the angelic statues throughout.
Part of the mosaic tiled floor has been restored as well, although significant upheaval damage over the decades of abandonment meant that not all has been repaired.
The atrium’s enormous 14-foot log Rookwood Pottery fireplace features West Baden's mascot, Sprudel who mischievously beckons to guests from a background or rich blues and greens. Sprudel signifies the springs on the hotel's grounds, which were a popular medical treatment for a variety of ailments in the early 1900s.
The 1902 hotel featured lush gardens and grounds, temples housing the springs, and a billiard hall although the crowning highlight was the major architectural achievement of an enormous light-filled dome, inspiring visitors to call West Baden the Eighth Wonder of the World.
Indiana Landmarks and the Cooks Restore West Baden
After the Great Depression, the area suffered a major economic recession, causing the hotel to fall into disrepair. The hotel became a Jesuit seminary in 1934, leading to the removal of the dome’s exterior Moorish towers and to the addition of the religious-themed stained glass which remains in the former chapel area.
The hotel's story became even more dramatic with its transformation into ruins with a crumbling wall and ruined mosaic tile floor in the vast 200 foot wide domed atrium, followed by its return to a functioning, award-winning resort.
After the seminary left in 1964 and the closing of a later private college on the site, West Baden's abandonment led to structural and aesthetic issues later repaired by the successful partnership between Historic Landmarks of Indiana (now Indiana Landmarks) and Bill and Gayle Cook of the Cook Group.
Once the hotel renovation was funded, restoration began in earnest and touched everything from the lovely period light fixtures and gilt painted touches to the complete transformation of the vast dining hall back into what was expected for a luxury resort.
In a nod to the hotel’s original era, new clothing and gift shops have taken form in the space around the atrium, plus one recreated barber shop showing what gentlemen guests could expect for their hygiene needs in 1902.
Parlors to the side show the masculine gentlemen's cigar parlor and the daintier women's area well away from the business discussions, smoke and salty language Victorian men employed after a hearty meal.
One thing that did not return to its historical design were the guest rooms, which were originally cramped and fit to early twentieth century expectations. The rooms have since been redesigned to fit large furniture, interior bathrooms and other modern amenities while still keeping the redesign unnoticeable from the atrium.
Recapturing Historic Garden Styles
While in the process of renovating the hotel, special care was taken to reconstruct the gardens that adorn the grounds. Volunteers cared for the rose gardens leading to the hotel and the flower beds around the exterior fountains while the hotel was still open only for guided tours.
After the restoration of the hotel and grounds were complete, the resort once more had extensive gardens in addition to a golf course and horse stables.
French Lick Resort in Larry Bird's Hometown
Also located nearby is the historic French Lick Resort, which has also undergone restoration and hosts guests in a town known for basketball legend Larry Bird. Once owned by a rival of West Baden’s owner, the two resorts vied for both hotel guests and for spring water sales.
Adorned with a jaunty demon-like figure representing the underworld from which the springs flow, French Lick’s Pluto Water became more popular than West Baden’s Sprudel selection even though both came from the same water.
After the rehabilitation of each, the resorts complement each other and both enjoy guests to the area. The French Lick Resort also features a casino and live shows in a 51,000 square foot Beaux Arts game room built to suit the style of the resort.
French Lick also boasts a nearby winery with a wide assortment including the popular French Lick Red.
Visiting West Baden Springs
While West Baden remains off the beaten path of a direct interstate, the resort is worth driving through gorgeous country scenery from Chicago, Louisville, Evansville or Indianapolis, whether from the airports or for daytrips.
If visitors just want to see West Baden for the day, worthwhile guided tours are available for $10 per person and the gift shop of Victorian-inspired gifts and toys plus history-oriented items entertains guests.
West Baden Springs is located at 8538 West Baden Avenue, West Baden Springs, Indiana.
Bonnye Good - Bonnye Busbice Good received an Editor's Choice award for her article on Your Historic Home's Interior Design Secrets and has also written ...
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