
The Cliff House Hotel
The Cliff Hotel building was constructed in 1894. It was designed to accommodate two storefronts on the ground floor, and to serve as a boarding house or hotel on the second and third floors. On those upper floors are 18 rooms, including 16 living / sleeping rooms, a kitchen, and two baths. The hotel spaces were well-appointed with decorative trim, faux-painted woodwork, wallpaper, and two impressive light and air shafts that allowed inner rooms fresh air and sunlight. A grand central stair was adored with Victorian style newel posts and lit with a large skylight from above.
The hotel was known as the “Cliff House” by 1912 and was operated by several owners over the years. Florence and George Atkinson were the longest-serving proprietors, operating the hotel between 1915 and 1949. George died in 1923, and Florence ran the business by herself until she died in 1849. The hotel was known as the “Cliff Hotel” by 1925. Rooms could be rented by the night or by the week. Some residents probably stayed here for extended periods. The hotel was closed in 1964 and remained shuttered and largely untouched for 50 years.
Times could be hard in the hotel. Most of the people who stayed here were of modest means. There are records of teamsters, laborers, miners, waiters, and unemployed women and men living here. One resident, Jennie Howard, was enumerated in the census as a Stage Actor. Reports of minor theft were common. In 1949, a resident cut his wrists with a razor, but was discovered by another resident and rushed to the hospital. A fire started in one of the bathrooms and caused extensive damage. On one January night, an elderly woman fell down the stairs at 4:30AM and broke her leg. Another resident died in his sleep of a heart attack. In the summer of 1943, a resident was sent for groceries and was later found in the Sangamon River, killed by a train.
There is strong evidence that Florence cared for and protected her female tenants, who were often of modest means and struggled to make a living. Some female residents probably worked in the sex trade. Florence, however, drew charges from the police. In 1916 charges were brought against George and Florence Atkinson for keeping a “house of ill fame.” They were found not guilty. In 1918 Florence Atkinson was charged with violating the anti-saloon law and being the proprietor of a “disorderly house.” Those charges were later dismissed.
Florence died in 1949, and under new proprietorship, the hotel probably declined. More reports of theft and violence were filed. A lack of updates and modernizations (besides a new phone system) actually served to preserve the former elegance of the hotel. The hotel finally closed in 1964. Lack of occupancy during the 1960s and 1970s protected the space from modernizations that were occurring across the city in historic buildings. Today, the floorplan and fixtures of the 1920s hotel remain largely intact.
The rooms are filled with tiny reminders of the former presence of so many tenants. Broken newel posts on the stairs were carefully repaired with metal coffee can lids. Openings in the floor were closed with flattened food cans. Phone numbers and other messages were penciled on the walls. A reminder to purchase groceries, and another to purchase “Hypnotic perfume and Merriment cologne by Monday.” The most remarkable find to date is a message written by Florence’s daughter, Jennette, sometime before 1930. It reads: “To the rest of people that live here/Jeanette Atkinson and Mrs. Geo. Atkinson lived here before you did. See see see…"



