Albert Bilicke

{{Short description|American real estate broker (1861–1915)}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Albert Clay Bilicke

| image = Albert Clay Bilicke.png

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1861|06|22}}

| birth_place = Coos County, Oregon, United States

| death_date = {{Death date and age|1915|05|07|1861|06|22}}

| death_place = At sea (RMS Lusitania)

| spouse = Gladys Huff Bilicke (m. September 10, 1900) {{Cite web|url=http://www.rmslusitania.info/people/saloon/albert-bilicke/|title=Mr. Albert Clay Bilicke|date=9 August 2011}}

| children = Albert Constant Bilicke (b. 1902)
Nancy Caroline Bilicke (b. 1903)
Carl Archibald Bilicke (b. 1907) {{Cite web|url=http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/maritime/visit/floor-plan/lusitania/people/peoples-stories.aspx?id=14150|title = Maritime Museum}}

}}

Albert Clay Bilicke (June 22, 1861 – May 7, 1915) was a millionaire hotelier and builder in Los Angeles. Bilicke and his father ran the Cosmopolitan Hotel in Tombstone, Arizona. After it was destroyed by a fire in 1882 he moved to California. In Los Angeles he built the Hotel Alexandria (1906) and was president of the Alexandria Hotel Company. He partnered with Robert Rowan in a building company. He was presumed drowned after being lost at sea while a passenger on the Cunard liner RMS Lusitania which was torpedoed and sunk by German submarine SM U-20 off the coast of Ireland. His wife Gladys survived. {{cite news|title=Many From This City Aboard Stricken Liner|work=Los Angeles Times|date=1915-05-18}}{{Cite web|url=https://lusitaniapage.wordpress.com/2017/06/10/bilicke-albert-clay/|title=Bilicke, Albert Clay|date=June 10, 2017}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/maritime/visit/floor-plan/lusitania/people/peoples-stories.aspx?id=14150|title=People's stories – Merseyside Maritime Museum, Liverpool museums|website=www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk|access-date=2019-04-24}}

His parents were German immigrants and his father was the proprietor of the Cosmopolitan Hotel in Tombstone, Arizona. Bilicke was born in Coos Bay, Oregon.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lvPuSN--cGYC&q=Albert+Bilicke&pg=PA288|title=And Die in the West: The Story of the O.K. Corral Gunfight|first=Paula Mitchell|last=Marks|year= 1996|publisher=University of Oklahoma Press|via=Google Books|isbn=9780806128887}}

Bilicke was acquainted with Wyatt Earp and testified at his trial after the shooting at the O.K. Corral.{{Cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lvPuSN--cGYC&q=bilicke+earp&pg=PA288 | title=And die in the West: The Story of the O.K. Corral Gunfight| isbn=9780806128887| last1=Marks| first1=Paula Mitchell| year=1996| publisher=University of Oklahoma Press}}

The Cosmopolitan was destroyed by a fire in 1882. A. C. Bilicke planned to rebuild it.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/12433942/fire_destruction_of_tombstone/|title = Fire Destruction of Tombstone, including Bilicke's Cosmopolitan Hotel, May 25, 1882|newspaper = Weekly Republican|date = 2 June 1882|page = 4}}

File:Exterior of the Hollenbeck Hotel on the corner of Spring Street and Second Street, Los Angeles, ca.1900-1905 (CHS-2346).jpg

Bilicke bought the Hollenbeck Hotel in Los Angeles in 1893. He joined with Robert Rowan to form the Bilicke-Rowan Fireproof Building Company, a construction firm the built the Alexandria Hotel.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1XGVAdrVtbIC&q=Albert+Bilicke&pg=PA84|title=Early Downtown Los Angeles|first1=Cory|last1=Stargel|first2=Sarah|last2=Stargel|year= 2009|publisher=Arcadia Publishing|via=Google Books|isbn=9780738570037}} The Rowan Building in Los Angeles is named for Rowan.