West Baden Springs Hotel
8102 IN-56, West Baden Springs, IN
West Baden Springs, IN
A vast glass-and-steel dome rising over a circular atrium, the heart of a mineral-springs resort saved from ruin and restored to its Gilded Age glory.
The West Baden Springs Hotel is one of the great architectural wonders of the Midwest, a domed resort completed in 1902 whose circular atrium is crowned by an enormous unsupported dome of glass and steel. When it opened, the roughly 200-foot dome was among the largest of its kind in the world, and the hotel was billed as the Eighth Wonder of the World, the centerpiece of a mineral-springs resort where the wealthy came to take the healing waters.
The hotel's story runs from Gilded Age splendor through decline, near-ruin, and a remarkable rescue. After the resort era faded, the building served other uses and eventually fell into severe disrepair, with part of the structure collapsing. A major restoration in recent decades brought it back to life, and today the West Baden Springs Hotel stands restored beside its sister resort in French Lick, its great dome once again drawing visitors from far away.
What Guests Love
- Standing beneath the enormous unsupported atrium dome, a marvel of early-1900s engineering
- The restoration story of a grand hotel brought back from near-total ruin
- The Gilded Age grandeur of a mineral-springs resort in its prime
- The paired history with the nearby French Lick resort and its springs
Worth Knowing
- The atrium is open to visitors, though the hotel is also a working resort
- Guided history tours cover the building's rise, fall, and rescue
- It pairs naturally with the French Lick resort a mile away
- Check current tour and visiting details before you go
Details
West Baden Springs, IN
Learn about West Baden Springs Hotel
The springs and the rise of a resort
The wooded hill country of southern Indiana is the homeland of the Miami (Myaamia), the Shawnee, and the Piankeshaw, who knew the mineral and salt springs of this region long before European settlement. The springs that later made the resorts famous had drawn people to these valleys for generations.
In the nineteenth century, entrepreneurs turned the mineral springs of West Baden and French Lick into fashionable health resorts, promising that the sulphur-rich waters could cure a range of ailments. Guests arrived by train to drink and bathe in the waters, and the twin resorts grew into a nationally known destination, a Midwestern spa retreat for the well-to-do.
The Eighth Wonder of the World
After fire destroyed an earlier hotel, the owner Lee Sinclair set out to build something unforgettable, and in 1902 the new West Baden Springs Hotel opened with its astonishing domed atrium. The dome spanned the circular court without interior supports, an engineering feat that awed contemporaries and earned the building its Eighth Wonder nickname.
In its heyday the hotel hosted a glittering clientele, with the atrium as its social heart. But the Great Depression gutted the resort trade, and the hotel closed. Over the following decades it passed through use as a Jesuit seminary and a college before standing empty, and in 1991 a section of the exterior wall collapsed, threatening the whole structure with loss.
Rescue and restoration
The collapse spurred a rescue effort. Preservationists stabilized the building, and a major restoration, backed by philanthropic and later resort investment, returned the hotel to its early-1900s grandeur, from the great dome to the tiled floors, murals, and mineral-springs setting. The work is regarded as one of the most dramatic historic-preservation successes in the country.
Reopened as a resort hotel, West Baden Springs again welcomes guests and day visitors beneath its restored dome. Standing in the center of the atrium and looking up at the vast span of glass and steel, it is easy to understand why it once stopped travelers in their tracks.
Visiting and the wider resort
The atrium is open to visitors, and guided history tours tell the full story of the hotel's construction, decline, and rescue. As a working resort, the hotel also offers rooms, dining, and grounds, so a visit can be a quick look at the dome or a longer stay.
West Baden Springs pairs with the French Lick resort about a mile away, its own historic hotel, springs, and grounds part of the same story. Together the two make southern Indiana's springs country a rewarding stop, with the rolling Hoosier National Forest and Bloomington within reach.
Closest Boutels
The closest Boutel™ stays, so you can turn this stop into an overnight. Each is an independently owned, editorially selected place to stay.
Things to Do Near West Baden Springs
French Lick
About 1 mile south
The sister resort town and its own grand historic hotel and springs, with golf, gardens, and a scenic railway.
Hoosier National Forest
Nearby
Rolling forested hills, lakes, and trails across a large stretch of southern Indiana.
Bloomington
About 50 miles north, an hour's drive
Home to Indiana University, the Eskenazi Museum of Art, and a lively college-town downtown.