Chattanooga’s Read House Hotel is a Luxurious Stay

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Recently, my husband, John, and I enjoyed a weekend at the historic Read House Hotel in Chattanooga, TN. Located at the intersection of Broad Street and Martin Luther King Jr Boulevard it is a luxury hotel styled in a 1920’s modern design. Gorgeous inside and out with detailed décor it often serves as an event destination in addition to welcoming guests. It’s ideally located within walking distance to key sites around downtown. You can walk to the aquarium, children’s museum, restaurants, the Walnut Street Bridge, and the Bluff View Art District. Bluff view has several galleries, inns, river views, and dining establishments.

Where Read House stands now a hotel property has stood for 171 years. Originally, the Crutchfield House was on the property until it burned down in 1867 after surviving floods and the Civil War. The Read House was subsequently built and both are landmarks featured in numerous newspapers, books, and magazines. It was registered in the National Register of Historic Places in 1976. It was purchased by a hospitality group in 2016, and underwent a $25 million renovation and reopened in October 2018. We intentionally waited until renovations were complete. I’d followed their progress via guest reviews.

We checked in with our first reservation into the Manor House, however, we upgraded when offered an Historic Tower room. The Tower has mountain and city views. Our king suite was nothing short of lavish. A large foyer with a lighted closet and enormous bathroom greet you as you enter. The bathroom was amazing with a huge walkin glass shower, large vanity, lighted makeup mirrors, and a lit up towel rack. The bedroom was around a corner and opened up with big windows to a city view and black-out drapes. Those are important as we’ve stayed in lots of hotels where lights seep in at night and disturb your sleep. Our king size bed had a comfortable mattress and faced a big flat screened tv. One word of advice on the tv, it does have normal cable channels, but if you’d like premier ones, ex. Netflix, Hulu, Prime, you’ll need to cast those from apps on your phone.

Entering the grand lobby, you’ll find plenty of seating area spaced to sit large groups in both big public sections and intimate alcoves. Next to the lobby is the Bar and Billiards Room. You can order handcrafted cocktails and seasonal drinks to enjoy in the bar or take with you anywhere in the hotel. It was charming with its big bar counter and glass and servers dressed in 1920’s clothing. We stopped by for a pre-dinner drink followed by a nightcap. My “Chattanooga” cocktail that I had twice was DELICIOUS. We chose to return from dinner and sit in one of the alcoves overlooking the lobby. With a beer and cocktail in hand, it was perfect for conversation and people watching.

Loved our view from our balcony alcove on Saturday night!

We ate dinner on the North Shore at a sushi place I’d noticed on an earlier trip to the city. Next visit to the hotel we'll try dinner at their in-house venue – Bridgeman’s Chophouse. We booked reservations for Sunday brunch through the RESY app and it was wonderful. An upscale dining experience that you don’t have to travel far to. I enjoyed the crab cakes Benedict with Mimosas and John had their shrimp and grits. Definitely repeating brunch on our next visit. It’s a destination restaurant for guests and locals. Highly recommend!

We are writing a separate post on the activities we liked this trip so please read it to know what to look for on your visit. John and I have booked another stay at the Read House Hotel in December. I love to travel and see places at Christmas time!

Hope you liked our review and you get a chance to experience this beautiful place on your next out of town adventure.

*The artwork on the floors is noteworthy. I walked the hallway just to see all of it and I know I didn't see it in its entirety.

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