Status Demolished Classification hotel Opened 1930 Demolished 1998 | Type high rise Height 52 m Floors 16 Construction started 1929 | |
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Former names Hotel Ludy (1930 - 1936 (?)) Alternative names The Senator Rest Home, King David Care Center (1967 - 1997) Address 166 S. South Carolina Ave. Architectural style Romanesque Revival architecture Similar Madison Hotel, MGM Grand Atlantic C, Ritz‑Carlton Atlantic City, Trump World's Fair, Tray Hotel | ||
The Senator was an oceanside hotel located at 166 S. South Carolina Avenue in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Opened in 1930 as the Hotel Ludy, it became The Senator before 1941. The 16-story structure featured a distinctive rooftop sign "Sky Cabana". In 1967 it became an elder care residence. It was sold in 1997 and demolished in 1998.
The hotel was designed in the Romanesque Revival style and opened in 1930 as the Hotel Ludy. Vintage postcards of the era boasted of a "Solarium - Modern, colorful, with three outdoor Ocean Decks overlooking Boardwalk, Beach and Ocean" and an "atmosphere of quiet cordiality". Sometime after 1935 it was renamed "The Senator." In the summer of 1942 the Senator was leased by the US Army for use as Army Air Force Basic Training Center No. 7.
The Senator would enjoy its heyday in the post World War II years and would become known for its "Sun and Stars" roof that featured tanning by sunlamps by day and converted to dining in the evening. At that time sunlamps were seen as promoting a "healthy looking summer tan". A 1948 image shows a matron in a white medical uniform tending to the Senator's sun bathers. In 1955 the hotel became the home of radio station WLDB 1490AM. "..The studios, located on the eleventh floor of the Senator Hotel, one of the area's largest and best known hotels, overlook the city and the world-famed beach area. From the windows, a million dollar panorama of the "World's Playground" meets the eye... (The call letters WLDB are currently assigned to a station on Menomonee Falls, WI.)
The Senator declined along with the fortunes of Atlantic City and by 1965 the hotel had closed. In 1967 it became an elder care center and operated as The Senator Rest Home, ICS Care Facility Retirement Home, and finally the King David Care Center. In 1997 the facility became bankrupt. The residents were relocated and the former Senator closed for good. It was sold for a casino expansion and demolished in 1998 after some it its terra cotta work was removed by an architectural salvage company.