The hotel where Room 215 received nine cases of bourbon a week

The Sir Walter Raleigh Hotel was built in 1923 because the Capital Construction Company wanted to attract convention traffic from Greensboro and Durham. By 1924, it was the biggest building in the southern part of Raleigh's business district. It was nicknamed North Carolina's third house of government.

By 1925, over 80 percent of the state legislature stayed at the Sir Walter. It was the unofficial headquarters of the North Carolina Democratic Party, making it a magnet for lobbyists and aides. For years, liquor lobbyists rented Room 215 and delivered nine cases of bourbon every week. They distributed the bottles to legislators in brown paper bags. U.S. Senator Sam Ervin called the hotel the most politically saturated inn in America.

During the Great Depression, the building's owners were forced into bankruptcy in 1934. The North State Hotel Company leased the hotel in 1935 and fully renovated it. After 50 rooms were added in 1938, the hotel became the largest in the state. In 1967, owner John A. Williams donated the hotel to the North Carolina State University Foundation, where profits supported student scholarships. The hotel was briefly renamed the Sheraton-Sir Walter Hotel in early 1968.

By 1975, as downtown Raleigh decayed, the majority of the building was converted to offices for the North Carolina Department of Transportation. In 1978, David Weil converted the building into the Sir Walter Apartments, housing 140 apartments for seniors. In 2019, Capital Realty Group bought the building for $16.8 million with plans to renovate the structure while continuing to use it as senior housing.

The Sir Walter is typical of American hotels of the 1920s. It is a 10-story imposing L-shaped building primarily made of brick, with classical stone ornamentation at the street and roof levels. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978 and is a designated Raleigh Historic Landmark.

Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikimedia Commons