The Brown Hotel history

In 1925, J. Graham Brown built the Brown Office Building just east of the hotel, which included the recently refurbished Brown Theatre.

1926: The hotel had started hosting popular dinner dances that impressively drew over 1,200 guests every evening.

In 1931, Brown defaulted on the loan that had financed the hotel, and the bank threatened to foreclose.

Another notable visitor to the hotel in 1936 was Rudyard Kipling, who spent some of his final days at Brown’s before taking ill and subsequently being rushed to Middlesex hospital on the 12th January, where he died six days later.

In January 1937, the Ohio River rose, invading Louisville.

1942: Thankfully, good fortune returned to The Brown Hotel during World War II, as thousands of servicemen on their way to Fort Knox often visited.

Brown had no heirs, so the bulk of the estate went to the J. Graham Brown Foundation, which he had established in 1943 to make grants to charitable causes in Louisville, according to the Encyclopedia of Louisville.

The first meeting of BAFTA took place at Brown’s in 1947, with Laurence Olivier, Michael Powell, Carol Reed, David Lean, and more leading lights in attendance.

Links to the past are priceless, just like the photo of a bell captain from 1949 that Salmon has on his desk.

For example, International Monetary Fund officials stayed at Brown's hotel during negotiations with the British government in 1977.

1983: Several investors known as the “Broadway Group” acquired building and began a thorough renovation that brought new life to it.

1989: The Brown Hotel was inducted into Historic Hotels of America, becoming one of its charter members.

Salmon started in 2002.

The hotel won two 2016-17 United States News & World Reports awards for Best London Hotels and Best England Hotels.