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Belleview-Biltmore Hotel

hotel in Clearwater, United States of America

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General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 1, 2026
Entity authorityQ4883834
Source-derived summary

The Belleview-Biltmore Resort and Spa was a historic resort hotel located at 25 Belleview Boulevard in the town of Belleair, Florida, United States. Partially demolished in 2016, the 350,000 square feet (33,000 m2) hotel structure was the last remaining grand historic hotel of its period in Florida that existed as a resort, and the only Henry Plant hotel still in operation when it closed in 2009. The building was noted for its architectural features, with its green sloped roof and white wood-sided exterior, and handcrafted woodwork and Tiffany glass inside. Constructed of native Florida heart pine wood, it was the second-largest occupied wooden structure in the United States after 1938; only the Hotel Del Coronado in San Diego was larger.

The Belleview-Biltmore was situated on the highest point of the Florida coastline with views of the bay and the barrier islands which border the Gulf of Mexico. The hotel was built in the summer of 1896 by railroad tycoon Henry B. Plant and opened January 15, 1897. Originally known as the Belleview Hotel, it was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places on December 26, 1979, as Belleview-Biltmore Hotel and removed in 2017 following its relocation.

When the last member of the Plant family died in 1918 the hotel was sold to John McEntee Bowman founder of the Biltmore hotel chain. He renamed the hotel the Belleview-Biltmore in 1926 during a rebranding of his hotel chain.

The hotel closed in 2009 and thereafter the property deteriorated from neglect.

Editorial summary

Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Belleview-Biltmore Hotel” is hotel in Clearwater, United States of America. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Belleview-Biltmore, Hotel and hotel, not as a finished interpretation.

Editorial reviewA dependable orientation record for establishing vocabulary, names and a first evidence trail. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—2016, 2009, 1938, 1896—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1897-01-01. For this dossier, Belleview-Biltmore, Hotel and hotel is the immediate research focus.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The phrase “hotel in Clearwater, United States of America” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.

Evidence profile

The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 1, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q4883834. Authority coordinates are 27.944, -82.818. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2016, 2009, 1938 and 1896.

Critical limits

The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

Best used for
  • Subject orientation
  • Search vocabulary
  • Locating named sources
Verify next

The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Belleview-Biltmore Hotel”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Belleview-Biltmore Hotel primary sources, Belleview-Biltmore Hotel archive and Belleview-Biltmore research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Belleview-Biltmore Hotel”?
  2. Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
  3. Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Belleview-Biltmore Hotel” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.