Wilson Hotel facts for kids
Quick facts for kids |
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Wilson Hotel
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 Location in Washington (state)
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| Location | Anacortes, Washington |
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| Built | 1890 |
| Architect | Pickles, James; Sutton, Albert |
| Architectural style | Romanesque, Early Commercial |
| NRHP reference No. | 04001369 |
| Added to NRHP | December 15, 2004 |
The Wilson Hotel is an old building in downtown Anacortes, Washington. It was built in 1890 during a time when many cities were growing fast. These cities hoped to become the end point for the Great Northern Railway's train tracks across the country.
The hotel was designed by architects Pickles and Sutton. David Wilson, a businessman, had it built using bricks made right there in Anacortes. The building looks like the Romanesque style, with round windows and arches. In 1911, it was updated and called the New Wilson Hotel. Later, in 1926, a new part was added, making it taller. The Wilson Hotel was used as a hotel until the 1970s. Then, it was changed into apartments. The building was fully fixed up and made safer from earthquakes in 2007. Today, it has shops on the first floor and homes on the upper floors.
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The Story of the Wilson Hotel
The Wilson Hotel was a big idea from David Wilson, a smart investor from Tacoma. He had seen how towns grew when railroads came through. In the late 1880s, the Great Northern Railway was looking for a place to end its line on the west coast. Many towns in the Puget Sound area, like Anacortes, started to boom with excitement.
Building a Grand Hotel
David Wilson chose Anacortes for his new project and bought land there. In 1890, he hired Pickles & Sutton, famous architects from Tacoma, to design a large brick hotel. He also hired David See, a brick maker, to set up a brick yard in Anacortes. This yard made about one million bricks just for the hotel.
Construction started on June 4, 1890. The hotel was built at the corner of Avenue P (now Commercial Avenue) and Eighth Streets. People at the time thought it was one of the biggest and most expensive buildings in Anacortes. It cost about $42,000, which would be around $1.2 million today. Even with some delays, the building was finished by December 1890. It opened to guests in February 1891.
Inside the Hotel
When it first opened, the Wilson Hotel had 62 rooms for guests on its upper floors. There was also a large sitting room on the second floor. The inside was decorated in a style called Eastlake, using local red cedar and red cherry wood. On the ground floor, there were four shops facing Commercial Avenue. The hotel also had a dining room, offices, and a bar.
The outside of the hotel had stone and metal decorations. It used to have a big sign with the hotel's name on it, but that is gone now. In 1891, a small brick building for the kitchen was added behind the hotel, making it L-shaped. Other small wooden buildings were used for cleaning and laundry. Today, this area is a garden.
A Center of Town Life
The Wilson Hotel quickly became a very important place in Anacortes. Many social events and political meetings were held in its sitting room. When the town got its first telephone and electricity in 1890 and 1891, the Wilson Hotel was one of the first places to have them.
Because it was close to the train station, important visitors and business people often stayed there. It was more popular than the Hotel Anacortes, another grand building that later fell apart. However, the hotel and its owner faced tough times. A big money crisis in 1893, called the Panic of 1893, caused David Wilson to lose all his money. The hotel closed and was later sold to pay off its taxes.
New Owners and Updates
In 1901, Valentine Funk bought the building. His grandson, Wallie, would run the hotel until the 1960s. In 1911, the hotel was renovated again. They spent $18,000 to update all the rooms. The number of rooms was reduced to 51, and 12 of them now had private bathrooms.
When it reopened in October 1911 as the New Wilson Hotel, it was considered one of the best hotels between Seattle and Bellingham. It had electricity, steam heat, and hot and cold running water in every room. In May 1926, the Funks did another big renovation. They replaced the old kitchen building with a new four-story concrete addition. An elevator was added, and all the rooms in the old building now had private bathrooms. This $50,000 renovation was finished in a few months. The New Wilson Hotel has looked mostly the same ever since.
