Nevele Grand Hotel facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Nevele Grand Hotel |
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|---|---|
| General information | |
| Status | Closed |
| Type | Hotel |
| Location | 1 Nevele Rd, Ellenville,New York,United States |
| Opening | 1901 |
| Closed | July 4, 2009 |
| Owner | Mitchell Wolff Joel Hoffman |
| Technical details | |
| Floor count | 10 |
| Other information | |
| Number of rooms | 430 |
The Nevele Grande Hotel was a tall resort hotel in Wawarsing, New York, near Ellenville, New York. It was a popular place for vacations and fun. The hotel closed its doors in 2009.
It first opened way back in 1901, during a time when many big resorts were built in the Catskill Mountains, known as the "Borscht Belt." The name "Nevele" is actually "Eleven" spelled backwards! Some stories say it was named after eleven schoolteachers who found a waterfall there. Other family stories say the founder, Charles Slutsky, had eleven children.
The hotel property once had two golf courses. These included an 18-hole course and a 9-hole course. Both are now closed and have fallen into disrepair. In 2020, reports said the buildings were falling apart. There were plans to tear them down and build a sports complex.
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A Look Back: Nevele's History
The Nevele Country Club started in 1901. Charles Slutsky founded it and called the first building the Nevele Falls Farm House. Like other hotels in the Catskills, new parts were added in the 1920s and 1930s. These new sections were built in a style called Mission Revival architecture.
The Slutsky family also owned the Fallsview hotel next door. For a while, the Fallsview hotel was joined with the Nevele. In the 1950s and 1960s, the Nevele grew much bigger. It was built in a modern style that was popular in the Catskills then.
Architect Sydne Schleman designed the Vacationer Wing and the Waikiki Indoor Pool in 1954. Later, architect Herbert D. Phillips designed the Golden Gate and Empire wings in 1956. These new parts were connected by tunnels. Phillips also designed new lobbies that looked like other famous hotel designs.
By 1964, Phillips helped design the Nevele Tower. This tower was ten stories tall and had a unique nearly circular shape. It was built this way to avoid long hallways found in older hotels. In 1966, President Lyndon B. Johnson even stayed at the Nevele. He was there to open a new hospital in Ellenville.
Changes Over the Years
The resort was first called just "Nevele." It became the Nevele Grande when it joined with the Fallsview resort again. This happened after the Slutsky family sold the Nevele in 1997.
By 2006, the Nevele Grande was having money problems. The Fallsview property was sold off. The Fallsview later reopened as the Honors Haven Resort and Spa. The original Nevele property, with its tall tower, stayed open for a few more years. It was still called the Nevele Grande resort.
The owners, Mitchell Wolff and Joel Hoffman, faced financial difficulties. They stopped paying taxes and suddenly closed the resort. This happened right after the Fourth of July weekend in 2009.
In 2012, a company called Nevele Investors LLC bought the resort. They announced big plans to spend $500 million to turn it into a resort and casino. This plan needed the state to approve gambling. The 1966 tower, the ice skating rink, and the golf course would have been kept.
However, the state did not approve the gambling part of the plan in 2014. A new developer then planned to make the hotel part of a huge sports complex. Construction was supposed to start in 2017. But by 2019, the developer said they had not found enough money. The plan never happened, and the property kept getting worse. As of 2022, a new developer was thinking about making the site into a hotel and homes.
What the Nevele Looked Like
The Nevele is located in a valley. It sits just west of the Shawangunk Mountains, between two small lakes. The main building is the Nevele Tower, which stands at the entrance. The Empire Wing is to the east and holds the main lobby. The Stardust and Safari Lounges connect the tower and the Empire wing. Other parts of the hotel included the Colonnades and the Pennsylvanian.
The Nevele had many conference rooms, which was unusual for a Catskills resort. These rooms surrounded the guest wings. At its busiest, the Nevele had a total of 430 rooms. The Waikiki Indoor pool and health club were the easternmost parts. Beyond them were the ski chalet and ski slope.
The ice skating rink, built in 1970, had cool wooden beams that curved upwards. The resort also had an 18-hole golf course. Nine more holes were available at the Fallsview resort. These courses were designed by famous golf course designers, Robert Trent Jones and Tom Fazio.
Images for kids
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Nevele lobby in 1978
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Room 1613 in 1977
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Nevele Hotel tower in 2015
