West Baden Springs Hotel Webcam – Towers and Sunken Garden

The West Baden Springs Hotel Webcam looks out from high on the roof of the famous domed hotel in West Baden Springs, Indiana, facing south between two of its red-domed towers. Below lies the sunken garden, a rectangle of lawn, clipped hedges and flowerbeds laid out after a fire in 1912, with a low classical pavilion at its far end and a wooded hillside rising behind it. A grey eagle statue stands on the red shingle roof in the right foreground. The scene changes slowly. Light moves across the white towers through the day, shadows swing around the hedges and the road that curves past the far side of the garden, and the hillside turns from deep green in summer to yellow and brown in October.

About West Baden Springs Hotel

The hotel opened on September 15, 1902, rebuilt in under a year after fire destroyed the earlier wooden hotel in 1901. Architect Harrison Albright designed it around a central atrium under a free-spanning dome 61 meters (200 feet) across, the largest unsupported dome in the world when it was built. The town around it had 541 residents at the 2020 census, sits about 165 meters (541 feet) above sea level and takes its name from the German spa towns of Wiesbaden or Baden-Baden. Mineral springs were the original draw. The hotel bottled water from Spring No. 7 under the Sprudel Water brand, and that spring alone pumped about 45 liters (12 gallons) a minute.

The hotel closed in 1932, and from 1934 the Jesuits used the building as West Baden College, a seminary affiliated with Loyola University Chicago, until the 1963-64 school year. During those decades the four Moorish towers fell into disrepair and were taken off the building. The two in this view are back on the roofline after a restoration funded by Bill and Gayle Cook that cost almost $100 million in all. The hotel reopened on June 23, 2007, with 243 rooms and suites, and has been a National Historic Landmark since February 27, 1987.

The sunken garden in the middle of the frame covers ground where several buildings burned in 1912. A rectangular brick walkway, laid with bricks from the Evans-Howard Company of St. Louis, runs around it and once led guests past Apollo and Sprudel springs on the east side, Hygeia Spring on the west and the Bowling-Billiard Pavilion at the south end, the building with arched windows that faces the camera across the hedges. Lillian Sinclair Rexford added the domed gazebo over Apollo Spring during a 1917 renovation and moved the Seal Fountain out of the atrium and onto the grounds at the same time.

Weather and Climate in West Baden Springs

West Baden Springs has four distinct seasons and a humid summer. Ten years of weather data for the hotel’s elevation put July highs around 87 F (30 C) with lows near 69 F (21 C). January is the coldest month, with highs near 41 F (5 C) and lows around 26 F (-3 C), so a light snow can dust the lawns and tower balconies on some winter mornings. About 1,260 millimeters (50 inches) of rain and melted snow fall in a typical year, most of it from March through July.

Spring and fall are the mildest seasons on camera. April highs reach about 65 F (18 C), and October still averages near 69 F (21 C) by day and 51 F (11 C) at night. September is usually the driest month, with about 69 millimeters (2.7 inches) of rain. On the West Baden Springs Hotel Webcam, the woods behind the garden stay deep green through summer, begin to show yellow and brown leaves by early October and stand bare in winter, while the clipped hedges and tall evergreens beside the garden keep their color all year.

Things to Do Near West Baden Springs Hotel

The resort’s self-guided historical walking tour places numbered markers around the sunken garden seen on the West Baden Springs Hotel Webcam, covering the springs, the brick walkway and the Seal Fountain. Indiana Landmarks runs guided history tours of both resort hotels that cover the mineral water trade, the gambling years and the restorations. The French Lick Springs Hotel, the resort’s other grand hotel, stands 1.6 kilometers (1 mile) away in neighboring French Lick, and its underground tunnel shows original foundation stones from the first hotel on that site, built in 1845. French Lick Casino, part of the same resort, opened on November 3, 2006.

Golf has a long history here. The Donald Ross Course hosted the 1924 PGA Championship, won by Walter Hagen, and the Pete Dye Course opened in June 2009 and hosted the Senior PGA Championship in 2015. The French Lick Scenic Railway runs excursion trains from French Lick through parts of the Hoosier National Forest and the Burton Tunnel, built in 1907 and about 670 meters (2,200 feet) long, the second-longest railway tunnel in Indiana.

Similar Webcams You Might Like

More Indiana views and historic small towns to watch next:

• Bloomington Webcam
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• Guthrie Webcam

Frequently Asked Questions

Where is the West Baden Springs Hotel located?

The hotel is in the town of West Baden Springs in Orange County, southern Indiana. It lies about 67 kilometers (42 miles) south of Bloomington and about 83 kilometers (51 miles) northwest of Louisville, Kentucky, in a straight line, and keeps Eastern Time.

What can you see on the West Baden Springs Hotel Webcam?

The camera looks south from the hotel roof, between two red-domed towers, over the sunken garden with its lawn, clipped hedges and flowerbeds. The Bowling-Billiard Pavilion sits at the far end of the garden, with a road, tall evergreens and a wooded hillside behind it, and a grey eagle statue stands in the right foreground.

What is the weather like in West Baden Springs?

Summers are hot and humid, with July highs around 87 F (30 C). Winters are cool, with January highs near 41 F (5 C) and lows around 26 F (-3 C). Rain falls in every month, most heavily from March through July, and September is usually the driest.

How big is the dome at the West Baden Springs Hotel?

The dome spans 61 meters (200 feet) with no internal supports, and it was the largest unsupported dome in the world when the hotel opened in 1902. The camera sits outside on the roof, so the atrium beneath it is not in view.

How far is the West Baden Springs Hotel from the French Lick Springs Hotel?

The two hotels are 1.6 kilometers (1 mile) apart. Both belong to French Lick Resort, along with French Lick Casino and the Donald Ross and Pete Dye golf courses.

Was the West Baden Springs Hotel ever a college?

Yes. From 1934 the Jesuits used the building as West Baden College, a seminary affiliated with Loyola University Chicago, until the 1963-64 school year.

Can you tour the West Baden Springs Hotel?

Yes. Indiana Landmarks runs guided history tours of the West Baden Springs Hotel and the French Lick Springs Hotel, and the resort’s self-guided walking tour has numbered markers around the sunken garden.

Source: FLRC Construction (French Lick Resort)