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Park Inn Hotel
The Historic Park Inn Hotel and City National Bank are two adjacent commercial buildings in downtown Mason City, Iowa, United States, designed in the Prairie School style by Frank Lloyd Wright. Completed in 1910, the Park Inn Hotel is the last remaining Frank Lloyd Wright-designed hotel in the world, of the six for which he was the architect of record. The City National Bank is one of only two remaining Frank Lloyd Wright-designed banks in the world. It was the first Frank Lloyd Wright-designed project in the state of Iowa, and today carries both major architectural and historical significance. In 1999, the Park Inn Hotel was named on the Iowa Historic Preservation Alliance's Most Endangered Properties List.
The Park Inn Hotel was the third hotel designed by Wright and served as the prototype for Midway Gardens in Chicago and the Imperial Hotel, Tokyo, which was torn down in 1968.
In 1907, when law partners James E. Blythe and J. E. E. Markley were looking for an architect to compete in quality with the eight-story bank building that would be built across the corner, they didn't hesitate to give the commission to Frank Lloyd Wright, a young architect who was building a reputation in the Chicago area. For them Wright would build a complex, multi-purpose building that would give them multiple income streams. Their law offices would be on the second floor of the building's narrower central waist and the hotel's east wing, surrounded on the south by a two-story banking room with rental office space above. On the north would be a 42-room hotel, with basement shops beneath the bank and hotel. Wright managed to pack all these functions into an aesthetically well-integrated building that architecturally would be the bridge between Wright's Prairie School period and his Midway Gardens and the Imperial Hotel to follow.
Wright's drawings of the bank and hotel are dated from as early as December 17, 1908. Construction began on April 1, 1909, with supervision by Wright until his departure for Europe in late October of that year. At that time, architect William Drummond, from Wright's Oak Park Studio in Oak Park, Illinois, took over supervision of the construction. During his subsequent visits, Drummond was commissioned to design a Prairie style home for a prominent Mason City family, not far away.
The law office of developer-owners Blythe and Markley opened for business on August 29, 1910, with the gala opening of the new hotel and bank buildings, two weeks later, on September 10. A month later, Wright returned to the Midwest from his year in Europe.
Despite its glossy, up-to-date appeal and choice location, just west of Mason City's primary downtown intersection of Federal Avenue and State Street, overlooking Central Park from the south, the Park Inn Hotel struggled through a relatively short life. The building had simply cost too much, and the return on investment was simply too little. During its first ten years, the hotel seldom made a profit. By 1922, the business was barely afloat, and the restaurant was closed more than it was open. Then, just when things could hardly get worse, disaster struck.
Nearby, overlooking Central Park from the west, the regal, stylish, 250-room Hotel Eadmar was newly-completed, and now open for business. The 250-room Eadmar, four massive stories of Edwardian elegance and comfort, made a powerful statement. On the other hand, with just 43 rooms, the Park Inn had very little to say. No longer stylish, now regarded as strictly second-class, the Park Inn couldn't compete. It soon went bankrupt, and closed for good in 1925.
Adding insult to injury, 1925 also saw the closure and liquidation of the City National Bank. It was quickly absorbed by another local bank, which, just a few months later, would itself fail. The nationwide farming crisis had, for Mason City, led to a banking crisis as well. By the end of 1925, four of the city's five banks had failed.
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Park Inn Hotel
The Historic Park Inn Hotel and City National Bank are two adjacent commercial buildings in downtown Mason City, Iowa, United States, designed in the Prairie School style by Frank Lloyd Wright. Completed in 1910, the Park Inn Hotel is the last remaining Frank Lloyd Wright-designed hotel in the world, of the six for which he was the architect of record. The City National Bank is one of only two remaining Frank Lloyd Wright-designed banks in the world. It was the first Frank Lloyd Wright-designed project in the state of Iowa, and today carries both major architectural and historical significance. In 1999, the Park Inn Hotel was named on the Iowa Historic Preservation Alliance's Most Endangered Properties List.
The Park Inn Hotel was the third hotel designed by Wright and served as the prototype for Midway Gardens in Chicago and the Imperial Hotel, Tokyo, which was torn down in 1968.
In 1907, when law partners James E. Blythe and J. E. E. Markley were looking for an architect to compete in quality with the eight-story bank building that would be built across the corner, they didn't hesitate to give the commission to Frank Lloyd Wright, a young architect who was building a reputation in the Chicago area. For them Wright would build a complex, multi-purpose building that would give them multiple income streams. Their law offices would be on the second floor of the building's narrower central waist and the hotel's east wing, surrounded on the south by a two-story banking room with rental office space above. On the north would be a 42-room hotel, with basement shops beneath the bank and hotel. Wright managed to pack all these functions into an aesthetically well-integrated building that architecturally would be the bridge between Wright's Prairie School period and his Midway Gardens and the Imperial Hotel to follow.
Wright's drawings of the bank and hotel are dated from as early as December 17, 1908. Construction began on April 1, 1909, with supervision by Wright until his departure for Europe in late October of that year. At that time, architect William Drummond, from Wright's Oak Park Studio in Oak Park, Illinois, took over supervision of the construction. During his subsequent visits, Drummond was commissioned to design a Prairie style home for a prominent Mason City family, not far away.
The law office of developer-owners Blythe and Markley opened for business on August 29, 1910, with the gala opening of the new hotel and bank buildings, two weeks later, on September 10. A month later, Wright returned to the Midwest from his year in Europe.
Despite its glossy, up-to-date appeal and choice location, just west of Mason City's primary downtown intersection of Federal Avenue and State Street, overlooking Central Park from the south, the Park Inn Hotel struggled through a relatively short life. The building had simply cost too much, and the return on investment was simply too little. During its first ten years, the hotel seldom made a profit. By 1922, the business was barely afloat, and the restaurant was closed more than it was open. Then, just when things could hardly get worse, disaster struck.
Nearby, overlooking Central Park from the west, the regal, stylish, 250-room Hotel Eadmar was newly-completed, and now open for business. The 250-room Eadmar, four massive stories of Edwardian elegance and comfort, made a powerful statement. On the other hand, with just 43 rooms, the Park Inn had very little to say. No longer stylish, now regarded as strictly second-class, the Park Inn couldn't compete. It soon went bankrupt, and closed for good in 1925.
Adding insult to injury, 1925 also saw the closure and liquidation of the City National Bank. It was quickly absorbed by another local bank, which, just a few months later, would itself fail. The nationwide farming crisis had, for Mason City, led to a banking crisis as well. By the end of 1925, four of the city's five banks had failed.