Some might consider it the Adolphus Hotel of West Texas.
The Hotel Settles in Big Spring may have seen a somewhat checkered past – but now it’s got a very bright future.
It was designed in the Art Moderne style in 1929. It opened in 1930, to serve the booming oil and gas industry, with 150 rooms located right between Abilene and Midland. But by 1933 its owner, W.R. Settles, had lost all his money in the Great Depression and sold the hotel that bore his name.
It remained popular through the 1950s, but hit a rough patch in the ‘60s. By the 1980s, it was shuttered and destined to suffer at the withering hands of vandalism and neglect. Demolition seemed a distinct possibility.
But in 2006 Brint Ryan, a Big Spring native living and working as a tax consultant in Dallas, bought it. He brought in Brent Hull of Hull Historical in Fort Worth to breathe new life into the tanned brick- and limestone-clad structure.
“There’d been so much vandalism, like heaters dropped through three floors, and pigeon mess everywhere,” Hull says. “Then I saw the original blueprints and said: ‘Well – this is nice.’”
Hull’s firm first restored the boarded-up, plastic-covered windows, then the doors, and finally the rest of the building. He used his extensive Rolodex to find the right kinds of materials, especially the wide pieces of birch to match the original paneling.
“They wanted to bring it back right, and make it a destination,” he says. “It was evident from the materials they wanted to use that they were committed to doing something authentic.”
Its 150 guest rooms were converted to 50 suites. A restaurant, bar, mezzanine and ballroom were restored. Talent to run the entire operation was imported from Dallas.
It opened with the start of 2013. “It’s a raging success,” Hull says. “The ballroom’s rented out four to five months in advance.”
And it’s helped revitalize the neighborhood, with bars and restaurants popping up nearby.
Now it’s not only a destination, it’s also the social center for downtown Big Spring.
A little like the Adolphus in Dallas.
For more on the Hotel Settles, go to http://www.hotelsettles.com/
For more on Hull Historic, go to http://brenthullcompanies.com/
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