Old but Not Forgotten
by Janette Boyd
Title
Old but Not Forgotten
Artist
Janette Boyd
Medium
Photograph - Photo/texture/digital
Description
Photo taken of the old Baker Hotel in Mineral Wells, Texas, built in 1929, a good example of Spanish Colonial Revival style of architecture.
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The Spanish Colonial Revival Style is a United States architectural stylistic movement arising in the early 20th century based on the Spanish Colonial architecture of the Spanish colonization of the Americas. The Panama-California Exposition of 1915 in San Diego, highlighting the work of architect Bertram Goodhue, is credited with giving the style national exposure. Embraced principally in California and Florida, the Spanish Colonial Revival movement enjoyed its greatest popularity between 1915 and 1931.
The Baker Hotel is a long-shuttered hotel in Mineral Wells, Texas. The Baker Hotel was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.
The story of the Baker Hotel begins in 1922, when citizens of Mineral Wells, concerned that non-citizens were profiting off of the growing fame of the community's mineral water, raised $150,000 in an effort to build a large hotel facility owned by local shareholders. They solicited the services of prominent Texas hotel magnate Theodore Brasher Baker, who gained fame by designing and building such grand hotels as the Baker Hotel in Dallas, the Hotel Texas in Fort Worth.
Architect Wyatt C. Hedrick based the hotel design on the Arlington Hotel in Hot Springs, Arkansas, which was known for its water and baths. Construction began on the hotel in 1926 but was stopped after Mr. Baker made a trip to California, where he visited a hotel with a swimming pool and decided the new Baker Hotel must have one in the front of the hotel. The swimming pool was placed on top of an already-completed basement, which was used as a work area for the hotel and a changing area for guests. An Olympic sized pool to be filled with the curing mineral waters, it was the first swimming pool built at a hotel in Texas.
Construction began the following year on the grand and opulent structure, which was described by Palo Pinto County historian John Winters as Spanish Colonial Revival, Commercial Highrise." It would rise fourteen stories over Mineral Wells, house 450 guest rooms, two ballrooms, an in-house beauty shop, and other novelties such as a bowling alley, a gymnasium, and an outdoor swimming pool. Completed three years later with a cost in 1929 dollars of $1.2 million, the mammoth building instantly dominated the city skyline. It was the first skyscraper to be built outside a major metropolitan area.
The Baker Hotel opened to the public on November 9, 1929 and celebrated with a grand opening celebration gala two weeks later on November 22. It manaboasted extravagant creature comforts such as an advanced hydraulic system that circulated ice water to all 450 guest rooms, lighting and fans controlled by the door locks that shut off and on automatically when the guest left or arrived in their rooms, and a valet compartment where guests could deposit soiled laundry that was accessible by hotel staff without them ever even having to enter the guest's room. The hotel was fully air conditioned by the 1940s, which added to its appeal as a top-notch convention attraction, offering a meeting capacity of 2,500 attendees; a remarkable number considering that Mineral Wells was home to only approximately 6,000 residents in 1929. Even though it opened mere days after the 1929 stock market crash, the Baker enjoyed immense success throughout the 1930s, largely due to Mineral Wells growing reputation as a top tier health spa destination.
2010 restoration plans
Plans were announced in August 2010 for Hunter Chase Private Equity to purchase and reopen the Baker with a proposed renovation budget of $54 million. Hunter Chase Private Equity and The Baker Hotel Development Team currently hold plans to bring the hotel back to life once financing and capital is obtained. Plans call to enlarge the current 400 plus rooms and bring the total number of rooms down to 155. The third floor would be still be maintained as a luxury mineral spa. It is estimated the restoration will take approximately two years upon ground breaking.
In 2014, citizens of Mineral Wells approved a measure to allocate a portion of the city's sales tax to the renovation project that will provide up to $4 million for the $56 million project. The renovation team is currently working to obtain the remainder of the funding and have created a website to communicate
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baker_Hotel_(Mineral_Wells,_Texas)
Uploaded
November 29th, 2016
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