The Mayo Hotel is an historic hotel that opened in 1925 at 115 West 5th Street in downtown

Tulsa Tulsa ( ) is the second-most-populous city in the state of Oklahoma, after Oklahoma City, and the 48th-most-populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 census. It is the principal municipality of the Tul ...

Oklahoma Oklahoma ( ; Choctaw language, Choctaw: , ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Texas to the south and west, Kansas to the north, Missouri to the northea ...

History

Early years

The Mayo Hotel was built in 1925, designed by architect George Winkler, and financed by John D. and Cass A. Mayo.Robert Evatt
"A milestone for the Mayo"
''

Tulsa World The ''Tulsa World'' is an American daily newspaper. It serves the city of Tulsa, Oklahoma, and is the primary newspaper for the northeastern and eastern portions of Oklahoma. The printed edition is the second-most circulated newspaper in the sta ...

'', August 6, 2009. The base of two-story Doric columns supports fourteen floors marked with false

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balconies, and a two-story crown of stone and a

dentil A dentil (from Lat. ''dens'', a tooth) is a small block used as a repeating ornament in the bedmould of a cornice. Dentils are found in ancient Greek and Roman architecture, and also in later styles such as Neoclassical, Federal, Georgian Rev ...

cornice In architecture, a cornice (from the Italian ''cornice'' meaning "ledge") is generally any horizontal decorative Moulding (decorative), moulding that crowns a building or furniture element—for example, the cornice over a door or window, ar ...

Mayo Hotel
at Tulsa Preservation Commission website (retrieved October 29, 2009). At the time the 600-room hotel was the tallest building in Oklahoma. Ceiling fans in each room and Tulsa's first running ice water made the hotel a haven from summer heat. The Mayo hosted many of

's most notable 20th-century visitors, including President

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Bob Hope Leslie Townes "Bob" Hope (May 29, 1903 – July 27, 2003) was an American comedian, actor, entertainer and producer with a career that spanned nearly 80 years and achievements in vaudeville, network radio, television, and USO Tours. He appeared ...

Charles Lindbergh Charles Augustus Lindbergh (February 4, 1902 – August 26, 1974) was an American aviator, military officer, and author. On May 20–21, 1927, he made the first nonstop flight from New York (state), New York to Paris, a distance of . His aircra ...

Babe Ruth George Herman "Babe" Ruth (February 6, 1895 – August 16, 1948) was an American professional Baseball in the United States, baseball player whose career in Major League Baseball (MLB) spanned 22 seasons, from 1914 through 1935. Nickna ...

Jack Dempsey William Harrison "Jack" Dempsey (June 24, 1895 – May 31, 1983), nicknamed Kid Blackie and The Manassa Mauler, was an American boxer who competed from 1914 to 1927, and world heavyweight champion from 1919 to 1926. One of the most iconic athl ...

Will Rogers William Penn Adair Rogers (November 4, 1879 – August 15, 1935) was an American vaudeville performer, actor, and humorous social commentator. He was born as a citizen of the Cherokee Nation, in the Indian Territory (now part of Oklahoma ...

Charlie Chaplin Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin (16 April 188925 December 1977) was an English comic actor, filmmaker, and composer who rose to fame in the era of silent film. He became a worldwide icon through his screen persona, the Tramp, and is considered o ...

and

Mae West Mary Jane "Mae" West (August 17, 1893 – November 22, 1980) was an American actress, singer, comedian, screenwriter, and playwright whose career spanned more than seven decades. Recognized as a prominent sex symbol of her time, she was known ...

. It was also the residence of some notable oilmen of the era, including

J. Paul Getty Jean Paul Getty Sr. (; December 15, 1892 – June 6, 1976) was an American petroleum industrialist who founded the Getty Oil Company in 1942 and was the patriarch of the Getty family. A native of Minneapolis, Minnesota, he was the son of pion ...

. In

William Inge William Motter Inge (; May 3, 1913 – June 10, 1973) was an American playwright and novelist, whose works typically feature solitary protagonists encumbered with strained sexual relations. In the early 1950s he had a string of memorable Broad ...

's 1953

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winning play, ''

Picnic A picnic is a meal taken outdoors (Al fresco dining, ''al fresco'') as part of an excursion, especially in scenic surroundings, such as a park, lakeside, or other place affording an interesting view, or else in conjunction with a public event su ...

'', the Mayo Hotel is where the lead character Hal intends to find work as a bellhop. In 1951, the segregated hotel had its first black guest, when President

Harry Truman Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884December 26, 1972) was the 33rd president of the United States, serving from 1945 to 1953. As the 34th vice president in 1945, he assumed the presidency upon the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt that year. Subsequen ...

personally phoned the hotel from the White House and asked that his daughter

Margaret Margaret is a feminine given name, which means "pearl". It is of Latin origin, via Ancient Greek and ultimately from Iranian languages, Old Iranian. It has been an English language, English name since the 11th century, and remained popular thro ...

be allowed to bring her black maid into the hotel. She was still required to use the service elevator, however.

Decline

In 1955, the original two-story lobby was reduced to one floor, with a new function room, the Pompeian Court, created in the former lobby space on the mezzanine level. In 1968, the Mayo family sold the hotel to Fairmont Hotels, which renamed it the Fairmont Mayo Hotel. Fairmont sold the hotel to Gateway Hotel Corp. in 1977, and it returned to its original name. In 1980, the hotel was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

. On January 9, 1981, Daon Corp, a Newport Beach subsidiary of a Vancouver-based firm, bought the hotel for $4.6 million, announcing plans to refurbish the property.

Closure

Daon closed the hotel in early 1981, for what they announced would be a 12 to 14-month renovation, which would involve restoring the original two-story lobby, combining and enlarging the guest rooms, and adding new dining options. They sold the hotel's fittings, laid off the hotel's staff, and began gutting the interior, tearing out the floors and walls. However, by November 1981, they had ceased work. Daon refused to comment publicly, but put the now shuttered and partially-stripped structure up for sale in December 1981. The abandoned, incomplete renovation left the building unoccupied and missing many of its original fixtures and its interior ornamentation. In 1987, Bruce Robson, Joe Robson and Jack Neely purchased the Mayo, announcing plans to reopen it as a luxury hotel. They proposed various restoration concepts over the 13 years they owned the property, but eventually put it up for sale after Tulsa voters rejected a measure in November 2000 to finance a new convention center, which would have brought more guests to a reopened hotel.

Restoration

Vacant for 20 years, the Mayo seemed destined for demolition until June 2001, when John Snyder purchased it for $250,000 and began renovation. Initial efforts focused on restoring the lower floors. The partially-flooded basement was drained of water and renovated as a public parking garage, which opened in 2002. The revenue from the garage financed the renovation of the historic ground floor public rooms, which reopened in 2003 and quickly became a popular venue for galas, proms, receptions and meetings. An $11.2 million project to convert seven upper floors into 76 loft apartments began in 2008.. $4.9 million in public funds were allocated to the project from the Tulsa County development package known as "Vision 2025"Kirby Lee Davis
"Tulsa's Mayo Hotel renovation scores $23.5M from IBC Bank"
''The Journal Record'', July 1, 2008. approved by voters in 2003. The hotel owners provided an additional $6.3 million. The total cost of the renovation was reported to be $40 million. As part of this renovation, the Mayo also became the first Oklahoma building to complete

environmental remediation Environmental remediation is the cleanup of hazardous substances dealing with the removal, treatment and containment of pollution or contaminants from Natural environment, environmental media such as soil, groundwater, sediment. Remediation may be ...

under a new

brownfields Brownfield is previously-developed land that has been abandoned or underused, and which may carry pollution, or a risk of pollution, from industrial use. The specific definition of brownfield land varies and is decided by policy makers and l ...

program sponsored by the Oklahoma Corporation Commission. The renovation project paid special attention to restoring the hotel's noted Crystal Ballroom (so named because of its crystal chandeliers) to return it to its 1920s grandeur.Terry Hood. "Revitalizing Tulsa's Mayo Hotel." News on 6. July 17th 2009.
Accessed October 4, 2018. Apartment tenants began moving into the restored building in late August 2009. The 102-room hotel portion opened privately for its first guest,

Britney Spears Britney Jean Spears (born December 2, 1981) is an American singer. Often referred to as the "Princess of Pop", she has sold over 150 million records worldwide, making her one of the world's best-selling music artists. Cultural impact of Brit ...

, who booked 80 rooms for her tour stop in Tulsa on September 15, 2009. The hotel opened for business in late September 2009. A formal grand reopening was held in December 2009. Since then, the hotel has hosted numerous famous guests, including

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, and

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In popular culture

In the 2022

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television series '' Tulsa King'', main character Dwight "The General" Manfredi, portrayed by

Sylvester Stallone Sylvester Gardenzio "Sly" Stallone (; born July 6, 1946) is an American actor and filmmaker. In a Sylvester Stallone filmography, film career spanning more than fifty years, Stallone has received List of awards and nominations received by Syl ...

, resides in the Mayo Hotel.

References

External links

Mayo Hotel Official SiteMayo Hotel at Skyscraper PageVoices of Oklahoma interview with Margery Mayo Bird.
First person interview conducted on December 9, 2009, with Margery Mayo Bird, daughter of the founder of the Mayo Hotel.
Tulsa Historical Society Honorees
{{s-end Skyscrapers in Tulsa, Oklahoma Economy of Tulsa, Oklahoma 1925 establishments in Oklahoma Hotel buildings completed in 1925 Hotels established in 1925 Hotel buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Oklahoma National Register of Historic Places in Tulsa, Oklahoma Skyscraper hotels in Oklahoma Residential skyscrapers in Oklahoma Chicago school architecture in Oklahoma