Tobacco baron Lewis Ginter planned the development of the hotel as a premier property in the city of Richmond.

There were no casualties; however, the marble statue of Thomas Jefferson sculpted by Edward Virginius Valentine was almost destroyed.

[citation needed] In the check-in lobby, known as the Palm Court, nine original stained glass Tiffany windows with the hotel's monogram remain.

[citation needed] In his autobiography The Moon's a Balloon (1972), Academy Award-winning actor David Niven described a trip from New York to Florida in the late 1930s, during which he decided to spend the night at the Jefferson Hotel.

Niven said that, as he was signing the guest registry in the lobby, his eyes snapped open with amazement when he noticed a full-sized alligator swimming in a small pool located six feet from the reception desk.