Belmond Charleston Place

Belmond Charleston Place is a hotel in the historic centre of Charleston, South Carolina. It was built in a style to fit with the architecture of surrounding 1800s buildings and opened on September 2, 1986.

Works by prominent artists are found throughout the hotel. Some of the guest rooms’ wood floor foyers were stencilled by the local artisan, Karl Beckwith Smith III.[1]

The “Quadriga” sculpture in the fountain at the front entrance (between Meeting and Hasell Street) is by John W. Mills, a member of the Royal Society of British Sculptors and the Royal Society of Arts. Its four 9-foot bronze horses represent the significance of the horse in Charleston’s history, as well as its present-day role. At the top of the sculpture is a Carolina bird of prey.[2]

Riviera Theatre

The adjacent Art Deco Riviera Theatre is owned by Belmond Charleston Place and is a National Historic Landmark within the Charleston Historic District.[3] Built in 1939, it was one of the first movie theatres in the city. The theatre eventually fell into disrepair and closed in 1977.

Belmond Charleston Place purchased the theatre in 1995 and spent $5.5 million restoring the Art Deco landmark, uncovering murals, intricate moldings and light fixtures. Even the original plush theatre seats, marquee and ticket booth were preserved. The Riviera is now used for weddings and meetings.

The lobby of the hotel features a hand-blown Venetian chandelier set between a Georgian open arm staircase. At 12 feet in diameter and in height, the chandelier is made of more than 3,000 individual pieces of glass, hand blown in Murano, Italy. It weighs approximately two and one-half tons.

In 1995, Orient-Express Hotels acquired the hotel and in 2014, the company changed its name to Belmond Ltd. At that time the hotel was renamed Belmond Charleston Place.[4]