Hotel Jerome at 120yrs Young

The history and highlights of aspen's most cherished landmark, 12 decades in the making

Welcome…
Wandering into the lobby on a cold night, sinking into a velvet couch to warm up by the fire.
Yum Factor…
The J Bar’s official drink, the Aspen Crud, a milkshake with bourbon.
Reliability…
The one place in town that stayed open through long winters, silver booms and crashes, quiet years, wars, depressions and recessions.
The Pool Then…
Once the town’s see-and-be-seen watering hole, alive with memories of Lana Turner and Gary Cooper lounging poolside.
The Pool Now…
Hot tub, snowflakes falling, big fluffy robe.
Value, 1952…
A room with a private bath, meals, and box seats to all summer music and seminar programs, $104.20 per week per person.
Value, 2009…
A burger in the J Bar and Monday Night Football, $TK.
Luxe, 1889…
Rooms $3, the same as the George V in Paris.
Luxe, 2009…
The “120th Anniversary Celebration,” four nights in a junior suite, two lift tickets, a grand soiree on Wednesday, Thanksgiving dinner, massages…$1,889.
Classy But Class-Less…
The Jerome is one place that still honors Aspen’s tradition of social permeability, where the ski instructor and captain of industry can mix and enjoy it.
Startup…
Many great Aspen institutions got their start at the hotel…under the stairs, in the basement, or on the premises. Examples: the Berkos’ toy shop, KSPN, and the Center of the Eye photography classes that seeded Anderson Ranch’s photo program.
Typical Aspen Construction Saga…
Jerome B. Wheeler, who loaned $60,000 to innkeepers Bixby & Phillips to raise a grand hotel at what was then known as Jacob’s Corner, discovered the first rule of building in Aspen: it always costs way more than you planned. When the tally reached $150,000, the innkeepers disappeared in the night, leaving Wheeler with a stack of unpaid bills and one month until the grand opening in Thanksgiving of 1889.
Playground…
Many kids grew up in the Jerome during its boarding house days, including late New Year’s Eve bomber and former mining gadfly Jim Blanning.
Win Some, Lose Some…
Jerome Wheeler surrendered the hotel to back taxes in 1909 after declaring bankruptcy in the wake of the silver crash.
Opportunity…
A traveling Syrian drummer, Mansor Elisha shepherded the Jerome through its next few decades. He stopped off here, took a job as bartender, and wound up not only running the place but turning it over to his son Lawrence.
The Paepcke Touch…
As Aspen’s first chairlift opened, Aspen’s new benefactor and visionary Walter Paepcke let Bauhaus designer Herbert Bayer loose on the hotel; he painted the outside white and gave it “eyebrow” window arches in a vivid blue.
Resurrection…
Investors Dick Butera and Jim McManus bought the hotel in 1985 for $6 million and pumped $27 million more into a restoration. The Jerome got its long-overdue makeover. Structural engineers rebuilt its bones while masons gave it a sandblast facial, revealing for the first time in decades the gorgeous brick and sandstone.
Inspiration for Writers…
Evelyn Ames, in the forties: “It is a surprising and heady brew… of Europe and the corner drugstore, of poets and cowboy boots.”
Stymied? March 2007…
The Gaylord family and their Oklahoma Publishing Co. campaigned for approvals to renovate and expand the hotel, became frustrated with the process, and stalked off (pocketing an estimated $20 million profit).
Access…
For decades, the Jerome had the only bathroom in town that was open to the public. This only added to its convenience as a meeting place (and to its plumbing challenges).
Name…
Jerome B. Wheeler (1841-1918) did more than build the hotel. He financed dozens of mines and a smelting company to process silver ore, and he promoted and invested in the Colorado Midland Railroad.
Flu…
During the 1918 “Spanish flu” pandemic, Parlors A and B of the Jerome became hospital wards. Hearses passed by on Main Street every day.
Vail in Aspen? Yikes!…
In 2007 the Jerome was purchased by Lodging Capital Partners and Elysian Hotels. RockResorts, owned by Vail Resorts, hired on as the management company. Owners defaulted on a $36 million loan, and at press time, a possible auction loomed. The hotel’s future today: cloudy, with a chance of litigation.
Capacity…
At opening in 1889: 90 rooms, 15 baths. Today:  94 rooms, 94+ baths.
Psychedelic…
Frederico’s Le Club, in the Jerome basement in the seventies, a wild members-only disco with deep red walls where colored lights flashed under the Plexiglas floor. One charter member: Stein Eriksen