“I grew up in Spring Hill and we’d always come over the Bay and I knew one day, I’d get back to Fairhope,” Shelley Springer said in the living room of the historic Fairhope Hotel, now the Summit Street Inn.
Springer owns Gumbo Real Estate and moved to Fairhope in 2005 to raise her two sons. In 2021, she purchased the former hotel with the intention of rehabilitating the historic building. “The first thing I did was free the porch,” Springer said. By stripping away the windows enclosing the front porch, it almost harkened back to its historic look. “Also, the place was painted pink when I bought it, so that had to go.” A coat of white paint returned it to its original color.
She renamed it the Summit Street Inn, reflecting its historic role. With its prime location at the corner of Summit Street and Fairhope Avenue, the inn is within walking distance of downtown shops, eateries, community events, the Fairhope Pier and beach, parks and walking trails. “The rockers are a front seat to Fairhope,” Springer said.
There’s historic photographs to prove it. Captain Jack Cross is photographed visiting with another native of England, friend and Mobile artist Roderick Mackenzie, on the front porch rocking chairs in the late 1920s. Captain John “Jack” R. Cross and his wife Eloise Gardner came to Fairhope in 1908. A native of the United Kingdom, Cross earned his rank as an officer as one of Queen Victoria’s Westminster Guards. After a short stint as farmers on the Ring Farm, the couple became innkeepers at The Gables, located on the southwest corner of Church Street and Fairhope Avenue, for 20 years. They were so successful they decided to build their own place.
The Fairhope Hotel was built in 1925 by Marmaduke Dyson, a well-known contractor. His distinctive style is easily recognizable in many Fairhope homes for his rock-faced or dimpled cinder blocks, known locally as Dyson Block. The couple advertised it to northern and midwestern guests in 1932 as “a homey place to spend the winter,” referencing its splendid location between Mobile Bay and downtown Fairhope. They say Captn’ Cross never met a stranger, with newspaper accounts referring to him as the “Sage of Fairhope” who corresponded with thousands of people across the globe. His obituary listed him as a “friend of artists and authors from every section of the world.” That friendship included McKenzie.
In 1926, the State Capitol Commission had chosen Roderick Mackenzie to execute eight murals for the rotunda of the Alabama State Capitol. The series, depicting episodes from Alabama history, demonstrates Mackenzie’s proven abilities with large-scale painting. In addition to the eight canvases, which are still on display, he designed and sculpted the decorative plasterwork.
Dr. W.C. Mason purchased the property and continued operating it as a hotel until 1958, when he turned it into his private residence. Sold to the Wallace Milham family in the 1970s, they returned it to its original small hotel roots, operating it as The Yardarm Guesthouse and adding the Square Rigger Restaurant with its still-evident cast-iron anchor in the front yard. In the 1990s, the inn was converted into offices and living spaces for the marriage and family counseling mother-daughter duo, Alice and France Fredricks.
Looking ahead, Springer’s vision is to rehabilitate this heritage hotel to create an upscale establishment reclaiming its charming 100-year hospitality history and promoting Fairhope’s vibrant future. Two photographs of Cross and McKenzie were taken back in the late 1920s. One with hats on and another with hats off. It’s a fitting image today with Summit Street Inn owner Shelley Springer and her assistant Ann Silvernail. The two are wearing many hats in pursuit of preserving the integrity of the building while it undergoes modernizing restoration with six luxury suites for discerning future guests. “People of modest means settled in Fairhope, but the founders were visionaries and creatives,” Springer said. “We want our restoration to reflect that history.”
Rather than hire consultants, Springer said they chose to file for the historic designation and tax credits themselves but knew they would need help. “Ann and I partnered with Rebecca Bryant with Watershed,” Springer explained. “She’s been great at getting us plans and making changes as we got feedback from the National Park Service and the Alabama Historical Commission.”
The original heart pine flooring upstairs and downstairs, and original transom windows with brass hardware on seven doors upstairs and downstairs will remain. The quoins on the building also make it unique architecturally and the clay pots on the front entryway are also original to the hotel.
Currently, the Summit Street Inn is a vacation rental and Peek, a unique gift store, is in the parlor. Her million-dollar restoration project recently received federal funding, which would cover 20% of the cost. “I cried tears of joy,” Springer wrote upon learning about the federal funds. It’s a great affirmation that this is a worthy project given Fairhope’s unique cultural and economic history. She has also applied for state credits that would provide an additional 25% of the costs. The renovation is expected to start this year.
Once the project is complete, Springer plans to take the historic project full circle and pay tribute to the Crosses. “It’s going to be called the Fairhope Hotel again.”
