Oklahoma's Oldest Hotel Reopens
By Margaret Foster | From Preservation | Feb. 27, 2007
The Skirvin Hotel's original art deco interior
The lights are on again in an Oklahoma City icon.
Vacant since 1988, the 96-year-old Skirvin Hotel opened yesterday after a $55 million renovation.
"We're quite pleased. Yesterday was a day of real celebration," says Melvena Heisch, deputy state historic preservation officer. "The whole community is really excited about the project."
When the Skirvin opened in 1911, it had two 10-story towers. A third tower was constructed in the 1930s, and today the National Register-listed structure has 225 rooms.
"We have a passion for historic hotels," Bill Otto, president of Marcus Hotels and Resorts said in a statement. "The Skirvin Hilton is our fourth historic hotel restoration."
In June, Oklahoma's state historic preservation office plans to give Marcus Hotels a 2007 citation of merit for its work on the Skirvin project, which used both state and federal historic-tax credits.
Heisch says her office worked closely with the city in deciding how to reuse the empty hotel and worked with the developer's architects throughout the design process. "It's been quite a good collaborative effort," she says.
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