Skirvin Hilton Hotel
Coordinates: 35°28′8″N 97°30′49″W / 35.46889°N 97.51361°W
| Skirvin Hilton Hotel | |
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| Location | 1 Park Avenue, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma  United States |
| Opening date | 1911 (Skirvin Hotel) 2007 (renovation and reopening) |
| Closing date | 1988 for renovation and improvement |
| Architect | Solomon Layton Hicks & Forsyth Kahler Slater |
| Management | Marcus Hotels & Resorts, Inc. |
| Owner | Skirvin Partners, LLC |
| Rooms | 225 |
| Suites | 21 |
| Restaurants | 1 |
| Floors | 13 |
| Parking | Valet |
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Skirvin Hotel
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| Location: | 1 Park Ave., Oklahoma City, Oklahoma |
| Coordinates: | 35°28′8″N 97°30′49″W / 35.46889°N 97.51361°W |
| Area: | 1 acre (0.4 ha) |
| Built: | 1911 |
| Governing body: | Private |
| NRHP Reference#: | 79002010[1] |
| Added to NRHP: | October 10, 1979 |
The Skirvin Hotel at the corner of 1st Street and Broadway in downtown Oklahoma City is the city's oldest hotel.[2] It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.[1]
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[edit] History
First opened in 1911, the Skirvin Hotel contained 224 rooms in a ten-story two-winged tower. A third 12-story wing was added in 1925, and then in 1929–30 all three wings were leveled off to 14 floors with a total of 525 rooms.[3] The hotel is named for its founder, William Balser "Bill" Skirvin, whose daughter, Perle Mesta, became the ambassador to Luxembourg under Harry Truman.[2] The hotel closed down in 1988 and sat abandoned for the next 19 years. In 2007, it was renovated and re-opened as part of the Hilton chain of hotels.
[edit] Haunting
Rumours of a haunting in the hotel persist, and have even been cited by NBA teams, notably in 2010 when the New York Knicks famously blamed their loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder on the haunting and when the Chicago Bulls reported doors slamming shut on their own and strange sounds outside their rooms. [4][5][6]
As the story goes, the hotel's original owner, W. B. Skirvin, had an affair with a maid, which led to a pregnancy. To protect his reputation and avoid a scandal, Skirvin locked the maid on the 10th floor. The maid became depressed and even after the birth of her child, she was still not let out of her room. She eventually jumped out a window killing herself and the baby, without notice in newspapers. The maid was apparently a woman of loose morals and many men who have stayed in the hotel have reported being propositioned by a female voice while alone in their rooms.[7] Others claim to have seen the figure of a naked woman with them while taking a shower.[8] One man even claimed he was sexually assaulted by an invisible entity during his stay.[9][4] Over the years, Hotel staff say they have seen objects moving by themselves and have heard strange noises at night.[10]
[edit] Today
The hotel reopened 26 February 2007 after a renovation project restored the original exterior finish, installed historically accurate windows, reconfigured guest rooms and added new guest elevators.[3]
[edit] References
- ^ a b "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. 2010-07-09. http://nrhp.focus.nps.gov/natreg/docs/All_Data.html.
- ^ a b "About the Skirvin". The Skirvin Hotel. Retrieved 25 September 2009.[dead link]
- ^ a b "Skirvin Hotel". Marcus Hotels and Resorts. Retrieved 25 September 2009
- ^ a b "New York Knicks blame loss on 'haunted' hotel". Yahoo7 Sport. Retrieved 13 January 2010
- ^ http://travel.usatoday.com/hotels/legacy/2010/01/haunted-hotel-troubles-some-new-york-knicks-players-in-oklahoma-city/1
- ^ http://espn.go.com/blog/chicagobulls/post/_/id/14/chicago-bulls-rookie-taj-gibson-got-a-scare-at-the-haunted-skirvin-hotel-in-oklahoma-city
- ^ http://www.legendsofamerica.com/ok-skirvinhotel.html
- ^ http://www.legendsofamerica.com/ok-skirvinhotel.html
- ^ http://www.legendsofamerica.com/ok-skirvinhotel.html
- ^ http://www.scaryforkids.com/skirvin/
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