The Graduate Providence is an upscale hotel that opened in 1922 as the Providence Biltmore Hotel, part of the Bowman-Biltmore Hotels chain. It is located on the southern corner of Kennedy Plaza at 11 Dorrance Street in downtown Providence, Rhode Island. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1977 and is a member of Historic Hotels of America, the official program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. History Early history The Providence Biltmore was conceptualized by the civic spirit of the Providence Chamber of Commerce and funded through a public fundraising campaign in which 1,800 city denizens contributed to pay for the construction costs. The management of the hotel was awarded to the Bowman-Biltmore Hotels chain, founded by John McEntee Bowman and Louis Wallick. It was built in the neo-Federal Beaux-arts style and designed by the architectural firm of Warren and Wetmore, who also designed Grand Central Terminal. The hotel opened to much fanfare on June 6, 1922, and was the second-tallest building in the city after the Rhode Island State House, until the Industrial Trust Tower was finished six years later.<ref>Woodward, Wm McKenzie. Guide to Providence Architecture. 1st ed. United States: 2003. . p. 99.</ref> Today, the Biltmore is the 9th-tallest building in the city. The Biltmore was the city’s only luxury hotel and welcomed many famous (and infamous) guests over the course of the 20th century. Mobsters, bootleggers, celebrities and politicians frequented the hotel and its many restaurants and bars. The hotel was the backdrop for many Rhode Island political and social scandals over the years, many of which are documented in the books”Meet Me At The Biltmore” (published in 2022 by Stillwater River Press). The Biltmore welcomed both black and white guests during a time when racial discrimination in public accommodations was common. Starting in 1941, the hotel paid for a listing in The Negro Motorist Green Book, a travel guide for Black travelers. The Biltmore was bought by Sheraton Hotels in 1947 and renamed the Sheraton-Biltmore Hotel. Providence was flooded by Hurricane Carol in 1954, and much of the lobby of the Sheraton-Biltmore was underwater; a plaque commemorates the high water mark today, eight feet up on lobby columns. Sheraton sold the hotel, along with seventeen other aging properties, to Gotham Hotels in 1968 and it became the Biltmore Hotel & Motor Inn. Restoration In 1975, amidst a flurry of lawsuits