11 Most Endangered Historic Places
West Baden Springs Hotel
Year Listed: 1992
Location: West Baden Springs, Indiana
Significance
A Midwest health spa and resort hotel, which boasted the largest free-standing glass and steel dome in the world when it was constructed in 1902, is renowned for its spectacular architecture and its historical guests. Attracted by natural mineral springs, recreational activities and nearby gambling casinos were presidents, dignitaries and front-page figures such as "Diamond" Jim Brady and Al Capone. But the privately owned resort, has been stripped of many historical features, is tied up in bankruptcy proceedings and is deteriorating rapidly from neglect and vandalism.
