Resorts Casino Hotel | |
---|---|
The two hotel towers at Resorts
|
|
Location | Atlantic City, New Jersey |
Address | 1133 Boardwalk |
Opening date | May 26, 1978 |
Theme | Roaring Twenties |
No. of rooms | 942 |
Total gaming space | 100,000 sq ft (9,300 m2) |
Signature attractions | Platinum Place Slots |
Notable restaurants | Gallagher's Capriccio Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville |
Casino type | Land-based |
Owner | DGMB Casinos |
Operating license holder | DGMB Casinos |
Previous names | Resorts International Casino Resorts Atlantic City |
Renovated in | 1998, 2002, 2011 |
Website | www.resortsac.com |
Resorts Casino Hotel is a hotel and casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Resorts was the first casino hotel in Atlantic City, becoming the first legal casino outside of Nevada in the United States, when it opened on May 26, 1978. The resort completed an expansion in 2004, adding the 27-story Rendezvous Tower, and underwent renovations in 2011, converting the resort to a Roaring Twenties theme.
The Resorts site was originally occupied by two three-story wooden Quaker rooming houses, The Chalfonte House and The Haddon House.
The Chalfonte House was built in 1868 by Elisha and Elizabeth Roberts. They had purchased a plot of land at North Carolina Avenue and Pacific Avenue from John DaCosta for $6500.00. The hotel was constructed during the winter for a cost of $21,000 and could accommodate 140 guests. They named the hotel for Chalfont St Giles, the town in Buckinghamshire where William Penn is buried. The Chalfonte House was expanded and moved oceanward twice, in 1879 and 1889.
The Haddon House was opened across the street, on the current Resorts site, by Samuel and Susanna Hunt in 1869. They named the hotel for the Quaker family who had founded Haddonfield, New Jersey. It was sold to Leeds & Lippincott in 1890. In 1896 they rebuilt The Haddon House at a cost of $200,000, naming the new, larger hotel "Haddon Hall".
Henry Leeds then bought The Chalfonte House in 1900 and constructed a modern hotel on the site, the Chalfonte Hotel. This eight-story $1,000,000 brick building, Atlantic City's first "skyscraper", was designed by architect Addison Hutton (1834—1916), and opened its doors to guests on July 2, 1904.
The current Haddon Hall building was constructed in stages in the 1920s. The 11-story wing facing the Boardwalk was constructed first, with the 15-story center and 11-story rear wings added later in the decade. Soon after the modern Haddon Hall was completed, it was merged by Leeds & Lippincott with the adjacent Chalfonte via a skyway, which still exists and can be seen today. The new Chalfonte-Haddon Hall complex consisted of 1,000 rooms and, at the time of its completion, was the city's largest hotel by capacity.