New Redmond Hotel

Old hotel

The original two-story Redmond Hotel was built in 1906 by William and Fanny Wilson. The Wilson’s arrived in Redmond in 1905 after making a modest fortune in Alaska selling supplies to miners during the Klondike gold rush. Once in Redmond, they became active community boosters, organizing a businessmen’s group that meet weekly to discuss civic affairs. In 1911 the hotel made the papers, and again in 1914, when the Jones Land Company was excavating for a septic tank in the rear of the hotel. The workmen had dug 19 feet through solid rock and drilled an additional 10 more feet before setting dynamite. The explosion of the dynamite was anticlimactic after a dull sound followed and cold, heavy-pressured air issued out. It was assumed a subterranean cavern was punctured and that it would make for a suitable septic tank. The discovery made the local papers and Hotel Oregon across the street wanted to locate their own subterranean cavern and eventually did. By 1914, the piping in the Redmond Hotel became clogged after use of the outlet increased. Another hole was drilled in the hotel and larger piping installed. The new setup was found to be adequate for disposal.

New hotel

In June 1927, the original wood-frame hotel burned to the ground. However, the Wilson’s quickly replaced the original hotel with a new one. Construction of the New Redmond Hotel began on 17 June 1927. In the building’s cornerstone community leaders place a time capsule containing coins, photographs, newspapers with reports of the recent hotel fire, and other community related documents. The new hotel cost approximately $150,000 to build. When it was completed, the hotel had 43,000 square feet (4,000 m²) of interior space. The hotel’s grand opening was held on 27 July 1928. The event included tours of the new hotel, a banquet with 350 guests, and a community dance. A meeting of the Central Oregon Jersey Breeders was held in conjunction with the grand opening. The hotel’s early advertisements boosted that the New Redmond Hotel provided the best lodging and service east of the Cascade Mountains at the lowest possible prices, only $1 to $2.50 per day.

The New Redmond Hotel quickly became a popular social center for the growing Redmond community as well as a well known lodging stop for travelers passing through Central Oregon. The primary function of the building has always been a hotel. However, the hotel lobby served as the home for the local Chamber of Commerce for a time, and as the Redmond bus station since it was conveniently located on Highway 97 which followed 6th Street though town. Today, the hotel remains one of the largest and best known buildings in the city of Redmond. It is also one of the few surviving examples of early 20th century Georgian architecture in Central Oregon. Because of its importance to Redmond history and its distinctive Georgian architecture, the New Redmond Hotel was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on 28 October 1980. In 1993, the hotel was extensively remodeled, modernizing the structure while maintaining the building's historic character.

Structure

The New Redmond Hotel is located on the southwest corner of 6th Street and West Evergreen Avenue in downtown Redmond. It is a three-story brick masonry building with a footprint of 150 feet (46 m) by 100 feet (30 m). The hotel is a good example of Georgian-style architecture. It was designed by Bend architect, Hugh Thompson. The building was constructed by a local contracting firm led by Ole K. Olson and his partner S. Elmer Erickson. Another general contractor, Fred N. VanMatre, also helped with the construction.

On the first floor, there are six commercial store fronts with large display windows, three facing 6th Street and three facing West Evergreen Avenue. The display windows are separated by wide brick pillars. Above the display windows are glass transom windows. The hotel entrance faces 6th Street. The entrance is marked by a large round archway with flanking bay windows. The upper stories of the building are faced with brick. The second and third floors both have fifteen casement windows facing 6th Street and eight facing Evergreen Avenue. On the third floor, window size alternates between large and small size across the facade. There is a ninth window bay on the Evergreen Avenue side of the building that does not have a window on either upper floor. The hotel’s interior fire escape stairwell is behind that bay. Above the entrance extending out toward the street is a vertical marquee announcing the name of the hotel. The sign rises above the rounded cornice that tops the third floor above the hotel entrance. It is 45 feet (14 m) from the sidewalk in front of the entrance to the top of the cornice, making the hotel the tallest building in Redmond.

Interior

The main public spaces inside the hotel are the main lobby and banquet room. Both the lobby and dining room have high beam ceilings with square side-columns crowned by Corinthian capitals. The focal point of the hotel lobby is a large stone-faced fireplace. The lobby is furnished with a mixture of antiques and modern furniture pieces. The floor in the lobby is fir covered with black and white linoleum squares, laid out in a checkerboard pattern. The lobby carpet is patterned after an oriental rug. The banquet room has hardwood floors.

An elevator, installed in the 1940s, takes guests to the upper floors. The number of hotel rooms has varied over the years. In 1980, when this building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places, there were 29 overnight rooms and 28 longer-term apartment rooms plus two executive suites, one known as the Governor’s Suite. The rooms have high ceilings and tall windows with the hotel’s original woodwork still in place. The hotels heating and cooling plants are located in the basement.