Hotel Clermont Is Now Listed on the National Register of Historic Places

After being added in 2019 to the register of historic places by the Historic Preservation Division of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, Hotel Clermont on Ponce is now listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

This new national designation helps protect and preserve the century-old building and its historic integrity as a national landmark location and qualifies the old motor lodge-turned-boutique-hotel for further federal benefits and incentives, including preservation tax credits.

Built in the early 1920s along Ponce de Leon Avenue in Poncey-Highland, the eight-story Georgian Revival-style motor lodge underwent a multi-million dollar renovation following years of neglect. Hotel Clermont now features a rooftop bar with unobstructed skyline views of the city, a chic lobby bar, and Tiny Lou’s — the French-American restaurant above another Atlanta landmark, strip club Clermont Lounge. The Clermont opened in the basement of the building in 1968 and is considered the oldest nightclub and strip club in Atlanta.

Hotel Clermont

Ryan Fleisher

Hotel Clermont

Tiny Lou’s underwent a change of management and in chefs last fall when Indigo Road Hospitality Group departed and the hotel began running the restaurant and its bars in house. Indigo Road’s departure also included Tiny Lou’s executive chef Jeb Aldrich and award-winning pastry chef Claudia Martinez. Aldrich is set to open Indigo Road restaurant Brasserie la Banque in Charleston, while Martinez now works as pastry chef for Steven Satterfield’s James Beard-award winning restaurant Miller Union on Brady Avenue.

Jon Novak was named executive chef of Tiny Lou’s and food at Hotel Clermont in February, along with new executive pastry chef Charmain Ware. While Tiny Lou’s remains a French-American restaurant at its core, Novak and Ware have infused more of the diverse regionality found in the foods throughout the South into its dishes and desserts.

• All Hotel Clermont coverage [EATL]
• Award-Winning Pastry Chef Claudia Martinez Lands at Steven Satterfield’s Restaurant [EATL]
• The Clermont Lounge Makes It Clear ‘Nobody From Atlanta Says Hotlanta’ [EATL]
• The Next Chapter of South Downtown’s Historic Hotel Row Includes New Restaurants [EATL]