Summary: Wright on the Park, a restoration group bent on restoring the last remaining Frank Lloyd Wright-designed hotel, has secured funding so that the remaining work in Mason City, Iowa, can go forward. Completed in 1910 as part of a multi-use facility, which included the City National Bank and law offices for the owner-developers, the $18 million hotel and former bank façade restoration and complex renovation will be complete by early 2011.

Wright’s elevation of the Park Inn Hotel and City National Bank, completed in 1910.

The Historic Park Inn Hotel complex, placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1972, served as a prototype for Wright’s Imperial Hotel in Tokyo (1915), which was demolished in 1968. Bergland and Cram, of Mason City, is the renovation architect.

The City National Bank, part of the complex, was designed as a secure “strong box” with natural lighting admitted through clerestory windows and skylights. The bank building suffered extreme alteration in the mid 1920s when the main floor was lowered to street level, a mid floor added, and the façade modified to include plate glass windows for retail use. Ownership of the buildings was divided at that time by the addition of ungainly separation walls.

Typical of Wright’s early Prairie School work, both buildings were richly enhanced with custom stained glass, terra cotta details, bronze grille work and light fixtures, and sculpture. Fortunately much of that original artwork has been retained or returned and restored.

For instance, the large skylight originally behind the hotel’s main desk was probably removed by one of the original owners, James Blythe. The current owner of the house Blythe was living in at the time found the Wright-designed window in the house’s attic. Fully restored, the window is ready for re-installation.

Restoration: the Wright thing to do
“We’re going to have people from all over the world coming to see this hotel,” said Wright on the Park President Jean Marinos. Formed in 2005, following several earlier failed efforts to restore the historic structures, Wright on the Park is a nonprofit organization with a mission to preserve and maintain the complex located across from Central Park in downtown Mason City. Wright on the Park has acquired ownership of both buildings.

The completed building before the 1920s alterations.

The goal of the restoration is to return both the hotel and the former bank to their original exterior façades. Development of the complex as a boutique hotel, banquet hall, and community center—with 22 rooms in the original hotel and 6 in the bank—will fund continued preservation of the buildings.

Project architect Martha Huntington, AIA, a vice president of Bergland and Cram Architects, has met the challenge of incorporating modern hotel amenities within the severely altered structure. The building had had small guest rooms, shared bath facilities, and major accessibility issues. By using the entire complex for hotel functions, Huntington was able to address all these issues. The main floor and basement of the bank area will provide meeting rooms and a community multi-purpose space for special events, including conferences. All levels will be elevator accessible. Wisconsin-based Inn Development & Management LLP, which specializes in historic properties, will be the hotelier.

Now and into the future
Much has already been completed on the stabilization and the exterior of the hotel building. The roof and skylight has been replaced, exterior masonry cleaned and re-pointed, terra cotta restored, the balcony terrace repaired, and windows replaced and/or restored. Mechanical and electrical systems will be completely replaced. The plans and specifications for the full project, including restoration and adaptive reuse, have been completed. Bids will be received in mid-October, and construction will commence soon thereafter. The grand re-opening of the hotel is scheduled for the first quarter of 2011, a little more than a century after its initial dedication.

Façade restoration notes.
Images courtesy of Wright on the Park.

The $18 million design and construction funding has been secured through Save America’s Treasures grants, various Iowa legislative appropriations, reserved state and federal historic tax credits, area private foundations, corporate grants, and private donations. The final link in this financial chain has been the just-approved New Markets Tax Credits.

Wright on the Park has partnered with the Mason City Chamber of Commerce and other community entities to realize a series of related improvement projects in Mason City. The city is participating by providing adjacent parking for the hotel, as well as plaza re-development on the east side. With its prominent location, Ann MacGregor, executive director of Wright on the Park, sees the Historic Park Inn Hotel as the centerpiece for a rejuvenation of the downtown area, she says.