In 1864, E. Gaynor built the Gaynor House hotel, which he renamed Ludington House in 1871 after lumberman Nelson Ludington. In the late 1800s proprietor John Christie enlarged the hotel and renamed the establishment the New Ludington Hotel. An advertisement in the 1893 Michigan Gazetteer and Business Directory called it "New Ludington Hotel-The Largest and Only hotel in the city having Baths, Steam Heat and Electric Call Bells-$2.00 per day." The hotel exemplifies Queen Anne resort architecture, popular in the 1880s and 1890s.