CHATTANOOGA — A hotel has operated continuously on the site of The Read House Hotel in Chattanooga since January 1, 1872. The current building opened on July 5, 1926, and is located on M.L. King Jr. Boulevard between Broad and Chestnut streets.

The Read House Hotel was designed by Holabird and Roche, a Chicago-based architecture firm. The general contractor for the 1926 building was the George A. Fuller Construction Company, based in Washington, D.C. Hotel historian Tyler Logue said, "It was designed to look like an English manor house in the Georgian style." He added, "This is meant to mimic the grandness of that, and you can see it when you walk into the two-story lobby."

The site was formerly occupied by the Crutchfield House during the Civil War, which burned down in 1867. John Thomas Read, a Civil War surgeon, and his wife Caroline leased space in a building on the former site. Logue said, "So, on the fly they did a five-year lease and retooled as a hotel." The Read family originated from McMinnville, Tennessee. Caroline Read died in 1903.

Sam Read, a former owner of the hotel, married Lizzie Sims Read and they had four children. Lizzie Sims Read died in 1909. Sam Read later married Katherine Key Read in 1910. Sam Read died in 1942 at the age of 82 and is buried at Forest Hills Cemetery in Chattanooga. The hotel contains spaces such as the Green Room and the Silver Ballroom, and its lobby features crests of the Read and Crutchfield families.