With its exceptional height for its locale and its exotic Moorish and Art Deco detailing, the 11-story hotel is a dominant landmark of downtown Kinston. Its design is notable for the setbacks to provide daylight to all the rooms. The hotel was a project supported by local businessmen who were determined that the town should have a first-class hotel that would be a “skyscraper” at least 10 stories tall (Kinston Daily Free Press, January 28, 1920). In 1926 local business leaders formed a stock company, the Community Hotel Corporation, which raised enough funds to break ground. The total cost was about $350,000. Finally the headline “Hotel Kinston A Big Achievement” appeared in the Kinston Daily Free Press on February 28, 1928.