Mayo Hotel facts for kids
Quick facts for kids |
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Mayo Hotel
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The Mayo Hotel
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| Location | Tulsa, OK |
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| Built | 1925 |
| Architect | George Winkler |
| Architectural style | Chicago School Style |
| NRHP reference No. | 80003303 |
| Added to NRHP | June 27, 1980 |
The Mayo Hotel is a really old and important building. It's located in downtown Tulsa, Oklahoma, in the United States. This historic hotel is huge, about 250,000 square feet (which is about 23,225 square meters)! You can find it at 115 West 5th Street.
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A Look Back: The Mayo Hotel's Story
The Mayo Hotel was built way back in 1925. It was designed by a talented architect named George Winkler. Two brothers, John D. and Cass A. Mayo, paid for its construction. The building has a special look called the Chicago School style. It has tall columns at the bottom and fourteen floors above them. In 1980, the hotel was added to the National Register of Historic Places. This means it's a very important building in American history.
Once the Tallest Building
When it was first built, the Mayo Hotel was the tallest building in Oklahoma! It had a huge number of rooms, about 600 in total. To help guests stay cool in the summer heat, every room had a ceiling fan. It was also the first hotel in Tulsa to offer running ice water in its rooms. That was a big deal back then!
The hotel welcomed many famous people from the 1900s. Important visitors included President John F. Kennedy, the comedian Bob Hope, and the pilot Charles Lindbergh. Even sports legend Babe Ruth and movie stars like Charlie Chaplin and Mae West stayed there. Some well-known oilmen, like J. Paul Getty, also lived at the Mayo Hotel. The hotel was even mentioned in a famous play called Picnic.
From Empty to Amazing
In the early 1980s, the hotel tried to get a makeover, but it didn't work out. The building ended up empty for about 30 years. It looked like it might even be torn down! But in 2001, the Snyder family bought the hotel. They paid $250,000 and started to fix it up.
First, they worked on the lower floors. These floors became a popular place for parties, school dances, and meetings. Then, in 2008, a big project started. They spent $11.2 million to turn seven of the upper floors into 70 cool loft apartments. The hotel part of the building now has 102 rooms for guests. The total cost to fix up the building was about $40 million.
During the renovation, special care was taken to restore the hotel's famous Crystal Ballroom. This room is named for its sparkling crystal chandeliers. The goal was to make it look just as grand as it did in the 1920s.
Reopening and New Guests
Apartment residents started moving into the newly restored building in August 2009. The hotel officially reopened for business in September of that year. A big grand reopening party was held in December.
The very first guest to stay at the reopened Mayo Hotel was Britney Spears! She booked 80 rooms for her tour stop in Tulsa in September 2009. Since then, many other famous guests have stayed at the hotel. These include music groups like OneRepublic and Fleetwood Mac. Singers like Lady Gaga, James Taylor, Justin Bieber, Bob Seger, and Josh Groban have also enjoyed their stay.
