Tradition of the Balkan Hotel is a century and half long. It was built around 1860, at a time when romanticism prevailed in Belgrade architecture, when there were no significant buildings at Terazije other than the hotel itself. The name of owner is not known, but what is known is that it was designed by a famous Belgrade architect, engineer Andrija Vuković.
The oldest data about the hotel go back to 1876 when a famed Garibaldian, Italian Giuseppe Barbanti - Brodano came to Belgrade to engage in warfare with the Turks. When he came to Belgrade he could not find a place to stay. After a long wandering he finally found it at the Balkan Hotel, where he left an inscription: "The name is glorious and the looks of the building befits it". Every day during his stay, sitting in the hotel restaurant, at a table outside under the trees, he would drink excellent Turkish coffee, such as could not be found in Italy and Austria. Oldest preserved photograph of the hotel is from the same year, taken by I. V. Groman, a Russion war reporter, who also came to Serbia on account of the war with the Turks.
In Belgrade Guide of 1896, the Balkan Hotel was described as a third class hotel, convenient for all ranks of people, a hotel with 12 rooms whose price was of 2-6 dinars. Still, the old hotel became worn-out and its owner decided to tear it down it and build a new one
In the spring of 1935, the old building was demolished and at the same place rose the hotel which is still here today to tell its guests the 70 years long story.
