| City/Town: • Oklahoma City |
| Location Class: • Hotel/Motel |
| Built: • 1908 | Abandoned: • 1985 |
| Historic Designation: • National Register of Historic Places |
| Status: • Restored |
| Photojournalist: • Billy Dixon • Michael Schwarz |
The Classic-style Marion Hotel was first built around 1904 as an apartment building but shortly after in 1908 was turned into a hotel. Forty-five rooms were rentable short or long term. Originally a beige-red brick, the three-story hotel was repainted white sometime in the 1940s. Bessie Haney, the former property holder, leased The Hotel Marion in 1946 for more than 30 years. She and her husband lived, slept, and worked at and for The Hotel Marion. While her husband passed in 1954, Bessie continued to run The Marion until her retirement in the late 1970s. The Marion stayed afloat for just a short while after closing in 1985. The building was boarded up and left degrading for almost thirty years. Until the hotel got a saving grace, someone saw the potential to bring it back as apartments.
Restoration
Restoration of the abandoned Marion Hotel began sometime around 2012 by Lingo Construction. The building was in extremely bad shape at the start, in danger of collapsing in on itself putting a dent in the restoration plans more than once. The new life envisioned for the Marion is ten upscale apartments. The three facades and grand stairway inside were salvaged to leave the building as historically pristine as possible. During the renovation, the interior was gutted and each floor was rebuilt from the walls inward. The spiral staircase was suspended between two buildings across the street at what is known as Architectural DNA.
Restored Marion Hotel ca. Dec. 2020
Gallery Below of The Hotel Marion
Bibliography
Coffeen Oldsmobile Company and the Hotel Marion, photograph, March 1949; (https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc1120111/: accessed July 8, 2020), The Gateway to Oklahoma History, https://gateway.okhistory.org; crediting Oklahoma Historical Society.
https://www.newspapers.com/image/452829173/?terms=marion%2Bhotel%2Btenth%2Band%2Bbroadway
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I would love to see some pictures of the hotel in its heyday! (Inside)
I remember looking up thru the little windows and being able to see peoples feet as they walked by on the sidewalk outside. My parents and I lived in an apartment in the basement in about 1961 or 62.
Isn't the original fire escape from this building hanging downtown ?
this building has since been renovated and is now apartments! It still looks similar on the outside but I've heard the apartments are stunning!
The Marion features in my fictional story, "Trouble in River City." The Marion was where orphaned street kids hung out in the 1930s. So great to see the photos of the interior!
An exciting update for anyone who doesn't live in the area: http://newsok.com/oklahoma-city-marion-hotel-reno…
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This building in its heyday.
http://blog.newsok.com/okccentral/files/2011/08/m…
so glad i found this site!!!! love it.
the building was purchased about 13 years ago and the new owner gutted the building of all the beautiful wood trim. shame on him. then i think he sold it to present owners that tried to restore it but never could.
http://newsok.com/garage-is-proposed-for-oklahoma…
Heya i’m for the primary time here. I found this board and I in finding It truly useful & it helped me out a lot. I am hoping to give something back and aid others such as you aided me.
My husband and I shoot wedding films and we're always talking about old abandoned buildings that would make good venues if restored. This is definitely one of them.
A renovation gone wrong is how the realtor described this building to us when we inquired about years ago. At that time, the "renovator" had lost the building and also completely ruined just about anything historical inside it. We've always hoped someone else would come forward and save the Marion!
i always drive past this thing when im in downtown okc…..didnt kno wat it was for and i was curious so thank you. -megan
I've always enjoyed looking at this building, I've always wondered about it's heyday, what sort of people stayed there and how lively it must have been at one time. It's a shame to see it as it is today. I wish I could have seen it in it's youth. I love all your sites Abondoned, you bring life back to history!!! Thanks for all your postings, I stumbled across you looking for things on my old elem. school, Jefferson Davis, keep up the good work your doing!!!
this building is actually owned by someone and they are planning on turning it into condiminums. Such a pity this building deserves to be restored to its former glory not turned into a housing unit.
Neat old building. It would take a lot of money to restore this sucker!
I drive by this place all the time downtown. Wondered constantly what it looked like on the inside. Thanks for giving us the pictures. I've seen construction people working on that site on and off for a couple of years. Heard rumors that someone was trying to restore it, but then the work would stop. One story goes that there are ghosts and that everytime someone starts construction in there, nothing gets accomplished because the ghosts keep moving the tools around. Whatever the reason, it would be nice to see it restored. So sad to see it in the condition… Read more »