Ambassador Hotel (Tulsa, Oklahoma) facts for kids
Quick facts for kids |
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Ambassador Hotel
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Ambassador Hotel, February 16, 2007
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 Location in Oklahoma
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| Location | 1324 South Main, Tulsa, Oklahoma |
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| Built | 1929 |
| Architect | N. E. Peters |
| Architectural style | Mission/Spanish Colonial Revival |
| NRHP reference No. | 99001085 |
| Added to NRHP | November 17, 1999 |
The Ambassador Hotel in Tulsa, Oklahoma, is a historic building with a rich past. It opened in 1929, planned as a luxurious place for important business people, especially those in the oil industry. These people needed a nice place to stay while their big homes were being built.
After the Great Depression, the hotel faced tough times. It had many different owners and uses over the years. For more than ten years at the end of the 20th century, the building was empty. In 1999, a group of investors bought it. They spent a lot of money to fix it up. Today, it is a special kind of hotel called a boutique hotel, which means it's unique and offers a personalized experience. Since 2014, it has also been part of the Autograph Collection Hotels by Marriott International.
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History of the Ambassador Hotel
The Ambassador Hotel was built in 1929. General Patrick Hurley was the person who started the hotel. He wanted it to be a fancy place for important business people to live for a longer time. These were mostly top executives from the oil business in Tulsa. They needed a temporary home while their large mansions were being built.
General Hurley never actually stayed in the hotel he founded. In March 1929, he moved to Washington, D.C. This was because President Herbert Hoover chose him to be the Secretary of War. The previous Secretary had passed away in December 1929. General Hurley never returned to Tulsa after that.
Changes Over the Years
The hotel business in Tulsa became difficult when the Great Depression started. This was a time when the economy was very bad. Because of this, the Ambassador Hotel had many different owners and uses.
In 1960, a company called Delbert Development Company bought the building. They changed the Ambassador into an apartment hotel for businesses. Later, as the oil business in Tulsa slowed down, the Ambassador became housing for retired seniors. It finally closed its doors in 1987 and stayed empty for over a decade.
Restoration and Reopening
In 1999, a real estate developer named Paul Coury and a group of investors bought the building. They started a big project to restore it, spending about $5.5 million. They worked hard to bring the hotel back to its original beauty.
After the restoration, the owners reopened the building as a boutique hotel. This type of hotel is known for being unique and stylish. In October 2014, the Ambassador Hotel joined the Autograph Hotel Collection by Marriott. This agreement allows the Ambassador to keep its own special identity while being part of a larger hotel group.
Building Design and Features
The Ambassador Hotel building currently has 55 guest rooms. It is located in Tulsa, at the corner of Main Street and 14th Street. Even though its address is 1324 South Main, the main entrance is actually on 14th Street.
Hotel Structure
The building is 9 stories tall and has a full basement. It is about 120 feet (37 meters) long and 40 feet (12 meters) wide. The hotel was built mainly with strong poured concrete columns and beams. The ninth floor has a solid concrete ceiling. The roof of the building is flat. It is hidden from the street by a low wall called a parapet.
The original roof was built on a wooden frame. This frame was covered with asphalt. By 1999, the wooden frame was too old and damaged to repair. It needed to be replaced with a new, lighter steel frame.
Exterior Details
The outside of the building is covered with brick. It has special decorations made from limestone and colorful terra cotta. Terra cotta is a type of baked clay.
A limestone belt runs around three sides of the building. This belt is at the second-floor level. It is decorated with a pattern of acanthus leaves. The window sills on the second floor are part of this limestone belt. The windows on the ninth floor have limestone frames with arches above them. The south side of the building also has a continuous limestone cornice. A cornice is a decorative molding along the top of a wall.
National Register of Historic Places
The Ambassador Hotel is a very important building. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) on November 17, 1999. The NRHP is a list of places in the United States that are important for their history, architecture, or archaeology.
The hotel was listed because of its architecture. It is considered a great example of a large building in the Mission/Spanish Colonial Revival style. This style was popular for homes in the Tulsa downtown area. The Ambassador Hotel stands out as one of the best remaining examples of this design.
