TULSA/ Grand "Mayo Hotel", Reborn....

WilliamTheArtist · #1 Posted **May 3, 2009, 5:53 AM**

During its early, oil boom, heyday Tulsa had many grand hotels. Most are now gone, but a few remain, including the Mayo. For years it lay abandoned, mostly gutted, and falling into disrepair. Finally she is being brought back to life again.

Built in 1925 in the Chicago (Sullivanesque) style and patterned after the Plaza Hotel in NYC, the Mayo Hotel for a brief time was Oklahomas tallest building and had 600 rooms. The rich and famous would stay at this premier hotel which offered the finest amenities of its day. Abandoned for over 20 years, the Mayo seemed destined for the wrecking ball. In 2001 the Snyder family bought the hotel for 250,000$. They began a series of projects to restore the hotel and recently, through various funding arrangements totaling over 40 million dollars, they have embarked on the last leg of restoration. The Grand Ballroom will be completely restored to its former glory. The main lobby, with the grand staircase rebuilt, will also be restored. There will be 76 upscale loft apartments and 100 luxury hotel rooms. Restoration is due to be completed fall 2009.

Old website with interesting tidbits of info.
http://mayohotel.com/index.php?name=gallery

New Website (still under construction)
http://www.themayohotel.com/index.htm

Some old adverts.

Some images that I have enlarged and computer enhanced.

Just a tiny sampling of some of the famous people who stayed at the Mayo during its heyday.

Restoration of the main lobby ceiling.

Some of the new plasterwork copied from original pieces.

South facing entrance.

Side alley facing east.

Current occupant of one of the street level spaces, is Topeca Coffee.

Even with the main lobby only partially repaired, it has become a favorite place for weddings and other occasions. I cant wait to see how this space looks once its completely done. Images from... http://www.zinkedesign.com/index.php/gallery/

The "Tulsa Now" forum is sponsoring a tour of the restoration on May 13. I will try to get some updated progress pics.

rockyi · #2 Posted **May 3, 2009, 1:22 PM**

Very nice to see, they did a great job. They are renovating one of our former premier hotels here also. It should be beautiful when completed.

WilliamTheArtist · #3 Posted **May 3, 2009, 3:07 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by rockyi

Very nice to see, they did a great job. They are renovating one of our former premier hotels here also. It should be beautiful when completed.

Just a note, what you see in those color pics above is not the final look of the main lobby. The people who bought the hotel basically cleaned things up and did what they could at first. Most of the original marble, columns, grand staircase, wrought iron, and other architectural elements were ripped out and sold for scrap in the 80s. Only recently have they finally got the funding to really go in and do it up right.

Would love to see pics of the hotel there and hear something about its history. So many of these old "golden age" hotels were lost. Its neat to see them appreciated once again and refurbished.

urbanlife · #4 Posted **May 3, 2009, 3:51 PM**

always great to see one of these old hotels brought back to life...every city should save at least one of these hotels in their own city.

rockyi · #5 Posted **May 3, 2009, 7:39 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by WilliamTheArtist

Would love to see pics of the hotel there and hear something about its history. So many of these old "golden age" hotels were lost. Its neat to see them appreciated once again and refurbished.

The local hotel is the circa 1915 Blackhawk Hotel in downtown Davenport, Iowa. It was slowly sliding downhill by Feb. 2006 when two dumb-shits decided it would be a wise idea to produce meth in one of the rooms....while a car show was being held next door. And, yes, they did catch the building on fire, evacuating the hotel and the car show. It's been sitting empty ever since.
Work is underway at the moment by a group called Restoration St. Louis to bring the old beauty to it's former glory and keep it's place as a top Quad City landmark.

http://www.wqad.com/news/wqad-blackh...,2418175.story

Blackhawk Hotel, pre-fire photo.

While they're in town, Restoration St. Louis is also taking on this 1880's diamond-in-the-rough on the next block. It's been sitting empty since the early 1980's.
It'll be made into lofts and retail space.

I drive past both buildings on my way to work and it's nice to see new life slowly creeping into these two local treasures.