It’s hard to believe, but the Velvet Cloak Inn was once the most elegant accommodation in Raleigh. A special project of “Willie” York, the patriarch behind York Properties, it was named after the ...

They look like fortresses. And in many ways, they are. The Velvet Cloak inn on Hillsborough Street in Raleigh, and the old Jack Tar motel, aka the “Oprah Building” in downtown Durham, are two of the ...

City fire officials closed part of the Velvet Cloak Inn on Hillsborough Street last week after an inspection found numerous safety concerns. City fire officials closed part of the Velvet Cloak Inn on ...

The Velvet Cloak Inn, developed by York Properties in the early 1960s, was one of the first Raleigh hotels to be built outside of the downtown core, and for years was the premier destination for ...

Opinion articles provide independent perspectives on key community issues, separate from our newsroom reporting. BY THE EDITORIAL BOARD Those big demolition machines have been crashing hard into ...

The Velvet Cloak Inn’s days are numbered. Next week construction crews will begin tearing down the inn, a fixture on Hillsborough Street for more than five decades. It will be replaced by a 150-unit ...