I imagine that people are making their hotel bookings about now for NecronomiCon. So here are two evocative postcards showing the main hotel which will host the NecronomiCon 2019 Lovecraft convention. One could almost imagine that the fellow in the drawing might be the Old Gent himself, perhaps taking a close look at the pigeons to check for signs of Yuggothian tendencies.

The hotel opened in 1922. While it may seem unlikely that Lovecraft or his friends ever lounged in the lobby here, one can imagine Frank Belknap Long’s affluent family staying there overnight. Though I know of no evidence that they did. A Spanish text I have suggests that when Barlow was travelling with his family they stayed in this level of hotel. But again, I know of no evidence they ever came with Barlow to Providence.

Possibly Lovecraft was more familiar with the park adjacent. It looks like the sort of place where one might have a pleasant wait away from the crowds, if a train was heavily delayed. Or could have served as a place to sit out with friends, while they recovered from their train journey enough to walk up the hill.

The hotel is briefly mentioned by Lovecraft in “Dexter Ward”, when Lovecraft evokes in fiction his own homecoming to Providence from New York…

“his head swam curiously as the vehicle rolled down to the terminal behind the Biltmore … It was twilight, and Charles Dexter Ward had come home.”