This article needs to be updated.(February 2015) |
Geiser Grand Hotel | |
Location | Main and Washington Baker, Oregon, U.S. |
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Coordinates | 44°46′36″N117°49′46″W / 44.77678°N 117.82936°W |
Built | 1889 |
Architect | John Bennes |
Architectural style | Italianate Victorian architecture |
Part of | Baker Historic District (ID78002277 [1] ) |
Added to NRHP | December 14, 1978 |
The Geiser Grand Hotel is a historic hotel in Baker City, Oregon, that opened in 1889. It received a restoration and reopened in 1993 after closing in 1968. Decorations include mahogany columns up to a high ceiling, Victorian-style chandeliers, and a stained glass ceiling. It was known as "the Queen of the Mines" during Gold Rush times and described as being the finest hotel between Portland, Oregon and Salt Lake City with the third elevator built west of the Mississippi River. [2]
The hotel was built in an Italianate Victorian architecture style designed by architect John Bennes, [3] [4] and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as a contributing property within the Baker Historic District. [5] Originally named Hotel Warshauer for hotel proprietor Louis F Cook. the hotel opened in November 1889. According to Oregon Encyclopedia, Bennes made "modifications" to the hotel and didn't arrive in Baker until 1900. An original postcard of the hotel states that the hotel was built and owned by the Baker Brothers. According to the Oregonian newspaper, Mr. Geiser bought the hotel in 1900 and in 1901 planned "another story" (which obviously was not built), a reconstructed interior, and the installation of all the latest conveniences and appliances. The hotel was renamed and reopened on January 1, 1902 with the name Geiser Grand Hotel. Information on what modifications Bennes made has not been found, all sources give Bennes complete credit for the building.
A 1906 story in the Reading Eagle titled Baker City Has No Poor gave an account with the hotel as a setting, with the story concluding that "Baker City was the most fortunate place in the country." [6]
In 1959 a clerk helped apprehend a pair of robbers at the hotel by complaining of arthritis and getting the robbers to tie her up loosely and then freeing herself to call the police as they left. [7] Country music singer Presley Wayne Spriet gave his last performance at the hotel the night before his death in 1997. [8]
Based on various reported sightings, the hotel may be haunted. [9] [10]
Bennes is believed to have come from Bohemian stock, although he may have been born in Peru, Illinois, and came to Baker City from Chicago ca. 1900 [11] and designed several other buildings in the area before moving to Portland.
Baker City is a city in and the county seat of Baker County, Oregon, United States. It was named after Edward Dickinson Baker, the only U.S. Senator ever killed in military combat. The population was 10,099 at the time of the 2020 census.
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Baker City Tower or Baker Tower is the tallest building east of the Cascade Range in the U.S. state of Oregon, located in Baker City. It was constructed in 1929 in the Art Deco style and is nine stories high. It is part of the Baker Historic District and listed in the National Register of Historic Places. It was designed by the Portland office of architectural firm Tourtellotte & Hummel. The general contractor was John Almeter of Portland and the roofing contractor was Cook & Emele of Baker City.
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The Seward Hotel, also known as the Governor Hotel, is a historic hotel building in downtown Portland, Oregon, United States, that is listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP). Built in 1909, it is one of two NRHP-listed buildings that make up the Sentinel Hotel, the other being the 1923-built Elks Temple. The Seward was renamed the Governor Hotel in 1931, closed in the mid-1980s, and reopened in 1992 joined with the former Elks building, and thereafter formed the east wing of a two-building hotel.
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The Cornelius Hotel is a hotel building in downtown Portland, Oregon, United States that is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It was designed by John V. Bennes's firm, and constructed in 1907–08. Its original period of use as a hotel had ended by the 1950s. A fire in 1985 left the top three floors uninhabitable. By the early 1990s the building had been vacated, and it then stood out of use for more than two decades. In 2016–2018, it was joined to the adjacent Woodlark Building, extensively renovated, and converted into a hotel. Named Woodlark House of Welcome, the hotel was scheduled to open on December 15, 2018.
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