The Tiger Hotel

The Tiger Hotel (1927)

The Tiger Hotel is one of Columbia’s tallest and most recognizable buildings. It opened in 1928, occupying a prime location on The Avenue of the Columns (8th) between Columbia’s business district and the University of Missouri. It boasted a large ballroom, a private dining room, a large coffee and tea cafe, and included three spaces for “hotel-quality” shops fronting 8th Street. The Tiger Hotel name was chosen to represent the spirit of the University of Missouri and the City of Columbia. It was well-chosen, for it was in the middle of 8th and Broadway that during the civil war a homeguard built a blockhouse to protect Columbia from Confederate guerrillas intent on burning down the city. The famous neon Tiger Hotel sign was mounted atop the 9 story building, facing North, to advertise to travelers who would be able to see it from the newly built U.S. Highway 40 (now Business Loop), the nation’s transcontinental highway

The architect, Alonzo H. Gentry, had recently completed the Cornhusker Hotel in Nebraska. The Tiger was originally planned to hold a 1,500 theatre, but another hotel/theater project was in the works, The Missouri Theater. The legend goes that the owners decided to compromise, agreeing the town couldn’t support two new large Hotel/Theater complexes, they each picked one. The Tiger became the Hotel and the Missouri is the theater we know today.

The Tiger was the first skyscraper in Missouri, outside of Kansas City and St. Louis. Its neon Tiger sign immediately became an icon for the city. The hotel also boasted the first parking garage in Columbia, immediately to the West (behind) the building. The parking garage is now demolished. In the 1960s the Tiger was increasingly out-of-date and new more fashionable hotels were being constructed along the new I-70. The decline of Columbia’s two passenger railways contributed to this, and Downtown as a whole began to suffer with the construction of Parkade Mall and suburban shopping centers. 

The Tiger is notable for its connection to Columbia’s LGBTQ community, especially as the home of a gay bar known as III Cheers (Three Cheers). There was also briefly a gay bar on the top floor of The Tiger known as “Top of the Tiger”. Rumours of a bathhouse in the basement persist to this day. In the 1970s and 1980s the LGBT social event of the year was The Pumpkinseed Ball, a costume ball held around Halloween that filled the Tiger Hotel ballroom to capacity, with dancers and revelers. The Tiger Hotel was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980 and has been honored as a Most Notable Property by the City of Columbia Historic Preservation Committee. 

Finally the competition from suburban hotels became too great and in 1987, the Tiger Hotel was taken over by a federal bankruptcy court. It was converted into a retirement home, the Tiger-Kensington, and reopened in 1990. In 2003, it was purchased by Tiger Columns LLC, renamed Tiger Columns. In March 2011, the building was sold to Glyn Laverick, of Columbia Hotel Investments Inc.and it underwent a complete renovation. After over 20 years as a retirement home the restored Tiger Hotel welcomed its first guests when it was still only partially completed, for the True/False Film Festival in March 2012. On February 1, 2022, the hotel joined the Voco Hotels division of InterContinental Hotels Group. It continues to serve as one of Columbia’s finest hotels, with quick access to all three college campuses and the vast array of Downtown Columbia restaurants, cultural institutions, government and business offices.