This Frank Lloyd Wright moment (which included the exhibit at the Guggenhein in 2009 and the restoration of the Darwin Martin House in Buffalo, among other things) continues. This summer, the Historic Park Inn Hotel (at left) in Mason City, Ia., was reopened following a complete, $18-million renovation aided by a Save America’s Treasures grant. (Hat Tip to Architects + Artisans, which published an excellent blog post about this, including a slide show, on Aug. 12.)
And now, the grand celebration, and an attempt — what else? — to create an attraction in northern Iowa.
Clearly, Mason City is not the boomtown it was when the hotel opened in 1910, but preservationists there are hoping that the restored hotel will attract money and tourists. Still, they are not relying completely on Wright fans to keep the building up and running in the way it should be kept, though — this jewel fell into disrepair once before. Rather, locals are celebrating with a grand reopening week, Sept. 5 – 11, culminating with a fundraiser called the Skylight Ball on Sept. 10.
The Park Inn Hotel is the last of six hotels Wright designed, and it is the only one left standing. It’s not the only Prairie-style building in Mason City, though: Several of Wright’s acolytes designed homes there. There’s a whole website about Wright in Iowa.
The restored hotel includes Wright’s original art-glass skylights in the lobby, a restored multi-colored terra-cotta façade, and a freshly repaired roof with its characteristically Prairie School hanging eaves. But according to the press release, which tells a long story about the hotel’s background, not everything was restored to its 1910 state:
The renovated hotel will have larger guest rooms and many more amenities than the original. It comprises not just the original Park Inn – so named because it is across from Central Park — but the adjacent City National Bank building, which was also designed by Wright.
There will be about 8,000-square-feet of conference space, including a ballroom, restaurant and bar, as well as many of the original features built in by Wright, including a ladies parlor, gentlemen’s lounge, billiards room and the Skylight Room, which has Wright-designed art-glass windows.
That’s a sign of the times, and perhaps a necessary bow to them. All the same, Mason City sounds, as they say, worth a trip.