HotelChatter

Historic Hotels / Hotel News / Frank Lloyd Wright / Frank Lloyd Wright Hotels / Iowa Hotels / Hotel Renovations / → All Tags

Spend the Night With Frank Lloyd Wright for Just $100

Where: Mason City, IA, United States, 50402

A long, long, time ago, practically an eternity ago on the internet really, we learned that a hotel once designed by Frank Lloyd Wright in Mason City, Iowa would reopen after years of disrepair in the grand year of 2010. So that didn't happen last year but ArtInfo reports on that after an $18 million renovation, The Historic Park Inn Hotel is now officially open to FLW-enthusiasts, and anyone else who is stranded in Mason City for a night.

After hanging in a state of precarious decline for the past 30 years, the renewed Historic Park Inn Hotel emerges with plenty for Wright fans to marvel at: his original art-glass skylights in the lobby, reproductions of furniture found in his other properties, a restored multi-colored terra-cotta façade, and a freshly repaired roof with its characteristically Prairie School hanging eaves. The hotel features 27 guest suites, a bar, a restaurant, and an 8,000-square-foot conference room.

more ›

Historical Hotels / Hotel Art / For the Sake of Hotel Art / Tokyo Hotels / Frank Lloyd Wright / → All Tags

The Last Bit of Frank Lloyd Wright's Tokyo Hotel is the Old Imperial Bar

Just as we promised, here is a look at the last remaining bits of Frank Lloyd Wright's grand 1915 design of Tokyo's Imperial Hotel.

This is the Old Imperial Bar, a smallish, tavern-like dining venue in the hotel, but totally tucked back on the mezzanine floor so that it's not some tourist-filled hotspot. Instead it's quiet and dark, the ideal place to order up the "Mt. Fuji," a cocktail recipe that's been in place at the hotel since the 1920s. We went out of our way to drop in on our own, and we don't regret the detour.

more ›

Historical Hotels / Hotel Art / For the Sake of Hotel Art / Tokyo Hotels / Frank Lloyd Wright / → All Tags

What If Frank Lloyd Wright Designed a Hotel?

Where: 1-1 Uchisaiwai-cho 1-chome, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, Japan

What if famous architect and designer Frank Lloyd Wright designed a hotel? Well, it's too bad he's deceased and it's even just as sad that he already did design a hotel, and it too is deceased. The pillar above is pretty much all that's left of the place that's visible, as a new hotel sits on the old location of Wright's grand Imperial Hotel Tokyo.

The Imperial Tokyo has had something of a tragic life, which, along with its reputation with luxury and superior service, has helped to make the Imperial into something of a legendary hotel. You see, the Imperial first opened in 1890, only to burn down. Then Frank Lloyd Wright received the commission to rebuild it, and the second Imperial opened with his design in 1915.

In 1923, an 8.3-magnitude earthquake damaged the hotel greatly and after many more years of use, it was demolished with its more decorative pieces—the entrance hall, most famously— carted off for display at the Meiji Mura Museum.

more ›

Historic Hotels / Frank Lloyd Wright / → All Tags

Frank Lloyd Wright Hotel Could Open by 2010

We normally think of Frank Lloyd Wright as a guy who designed homes, but he also created a handful of hotels, including the now-destroyed Imperial Hotel in Tokyo.

His last remaining hotel is in Mason City, Iowa, and soon enough, you'll have the chance to stay there. A major renovation project will fix up both the Park Inn Hotel and an adjoining bank, and should be finished by 2010. (Of course, "should be" are the operative words here.)

If you can't wait until 2010 to stay in the Wright hotel, our little bro site Jaunted has plenty of dish on the architect's famous (and not-so-famous) buildings around the US.

Related Stories:
· Last Wright Hotel on Track for 2010 Reopening [Preservation]
· Wright on the Park/Park Inn Hotel [Official Site]
· Historic Hotels coverage [HotelChatter]
· Frank Lloyd Wright coverage [Jaunted]