Grand Hotel (New Ulm, Minnesota)
Encyclopedia
The Grand Hotel is a historic hotel
in New Ulm, Minnesota
. The private, commercial structure was placed on the National Register of Historic Places
(NRHP) on June 21, 1990. The building is notable because of its association with the development of New Ulm's business district and as an example of Italianate architecture
in a commercial building.
The south-facing street facade is divided into three bays
by pilasters; the center bay is narrower than the other two. Fenestration is different on the three levels: the first floor consists of a transom
ed central entrance with sidelights flanked by rusticated
brick pilasters and large, paired plate glass storefront windows. All five of the first floor openings are set in semicircular brick arches; each window has a decorative cartouche
as a keystone
. In the center of the arched doorway is a carved lion
's head. The formal balance used by the Italianate design is accentuated by the brick quoins
. The window to the immediate right of the main entrance was a storefront entrance, but it was altered on an unknown date to match the remaining windows. A corbel table provides horizontal division between the first and second floors. The second story consists of six identical four by four double hung windows featuring stone sill
s and raised brick Gothic
arches with keystones. The two center windows are paired. The remnants of a cornice
are visible just above the keystones on the second story. The windows on the top floor are similar to the second except they are one by one sash and have nearly flat brick arches with keystones. A row of corbeled brick in the form of dentil
s surmount these windows, and there is a large round window centered in the facade. Additional corbeled bricks serve as an elaborate terminus to the building. The gable
roof has a slight pitch and each wall as a parapet
.
The west sidewall is pierced on the third floor by five double hung windows, two of which are one by one sash. The east elevation features eight double hung windows on the first floor, seven on the second, and six on the third; all of these opening have stone sills with segmental brick arches. The rear of the building has the 1899 one-story brick addition with a skillion roof
.
Other than minor repainting and the removal of the awnings, the exterior of the building has undergone few changes since the 1899 redesign. The building was sandblasted in 1970, and in 1987 the building was tuckpointed
and a new roof and fire sprinkler system was added. The building has since been repainted to look as it did in the late 19th century.
tribes in 1851, the Minnesota River Valley was opened for settlement. In 1854, the first large group of settlers from the Chicago Land Society arrived in Brown County
. The Society was organized by German immigrants in Chicago
who desired to establish their own Midwestern colony, and New Ulm was plat
ted in 1855. They were soon joined by Turner Germans
from Cincinnati and formed the German Land Association of Minnesota. New Ulm was planned as a trading and agricultural center, but was unlike other area settlements in that it was not planned by or for the railroad; rather, the development relied on steamboat
s on the Minnesota River until the 1870s.
The 1860 population of New Ulm was 635, with only two of non-German descent. Among the predominantly German population was Phillip H. Gross. Gross was born in Germany
on October 12, 1809, and was a baker
by trade. His first wife was a widow with three children, and together they had five more; she died in 1853 and he married again and had another five children with his second wife. He came to the United States
in 1854, spending his first two years in Milwaukee, Wisconsin
. In 1856 he joined a group going to New Ulm and started a hotel.
The two-story wood-frame building was called the Minnesota Haus, and was the only business in the community providing room and board
to visitors. Business was good, and after the hotel burned down in 1860, Gross rebuilt and renamed it as the larger Union Hotel. The hotel became a focal point of activity in New Ulm and during the Dakota War of 1862
, when New Ulm itself was put under siege, served as a hospital
as over 185 of the city's buildings were burned. Among the doctors at the hospital was William Worrall Mayo
, who would later found the Mayo Clinic
in Rochester, Minnesota
. Commercial activity increased after the conflict increased as a new influx of settlers arrived to take advantage of land provided through the Homestead Act
. New Ulm began developing into a producer, exporter and processor of agricultural products and became a regional center once the railroad arrived in the area in 1872. The Union Hotel flourished, but was destroyed by fire on July 5, 1875. The fire began in an adjacent large barn belonging to the hotel which spread to the main structure; the hotels furniture was saved but fire fighting efforts moved to saving other structures on the street. The loss was estimated at about $6,000; Gross was insured to $4,200.
Gross immediately rebuilt the hotel as a two-story brick structure, hiring architect Julius Berndt, who would go on to design the Hermann Monument. Gross operated it until retiring in 1885; he died on September 19, 1895. His son-in-law, Wenzel Schotzko, took over managing the hotel. Meanwhile, by 1884 two other hotels opened in New Ulm and in 1899 a new owner of the Union Hotel added the third floor and conducted renovations that brought the hotel's exterior to its present form. The renamed Grand Hotel had thirty sleeping rooms, an office, a new kitchen and large dining room which occupied half of the first floor. As a result of these changes, the hotel continued to play an important role in downtown New Ulm into the 20th century.
Over the ensuing years, the building fell out of use as a hotel and went through a succession of owners and various occupants. In 1970 it was purchased and turned into a boarding house
. In the 1990s it housed a coffee shop, framing gallery and radio station KNUJ
; the third floor was vacant. In 2000, Anne Makepeace, the great-great granddaughter of Philip Gross, purchased the building with her husband and members of her family. In February 2003, the Makepeaces began restoring the building to its original appearance in the late 19th century. It currently houses a restaurant, the Grand Kabaret, and shops.
); as such, no building in the downtown commercial district has retained such a high degree of historic architectural integrity.
Hotel
A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. The provision of basic accommodation, in times past, consisting only of a room with a bed, a cupboard, a small table and a washstand has largely been replaced by rooms with modern facilities, including en-suite bathrooms...
in New Ulm, Minnesota
New Ulm, Minnesota
New Ulm is a city in Brown County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 13,522 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Brown County....
. The private, commercial structure was placed on the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
(NRHP) on June 21, 1990. The building is notable because of its association with the development of New Ulm's business district and as an example of Italianate architecture
Italianate architecture
The Italianate style of architecture was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. In the Italianate style, the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century Italian Renaissance architecture, which had served as inspiration for both Palladianism and...
in a commercial building.
Structure
The Grand Hotel is a three-story Italianate-style brick building located in the center of New Ulm's historic business district. The structure originally had only two stories when it opened as the Union Hotel in 1876. New owners added the third story in 1899 during a thorough renovation where heating, plumbing and lighting fixtures were upgraded and a brick addition was extended from the rear; they renamed it the Grand Hotel.The south-facing street facade is divided into three bays
Bay (architecture)
A bay is a unit of form in architecture. This unit is defined as the zone between the outer edges of an engaged column, pilaster, or post; or within a window frame, doorframe, or vertical 'bas relief' wall form.-Defining elements:...
by pilasters; the center bay is narrower than the other two. Fenestration is different on the three levels: the first floor consists of a transom
Transom
Transom may refer to:* Transom , a bar of wood or stone across the top of a door or window* Transom , one of the beams running athwart the ship's hull at the fashion timbers or the surface that forms the flat back panel of a stern of a vessel* Operation Transom, a major bombing raid* Transom knot,...
ed central entrance with sidelights flanked by rusticated
Rustication (architecture)
thumb|upright|Two different styles of rustication in the [[Palazzo Medici-Riccardi]] in [[Florence]].In classical architecture rustication is an architectural feature that contrasts in texture with the smoothly finished, squared block masonry surfaces called ashlar...
brick pilasters and large, paired plate glass storefront windows. All five of the first floor openings are set in semicircular brick arches; each window has a decorative cartouche
Cartouche
In Egyptian hieroglyphs, a cartouche is an ellipse with a horizontal line at one end, indicating that the text enclosed is a royal name, coming into use during the beginning of the Fourth Dynasty under Pharaoh Sneferu, replacing the earlier serekh...
as a keystone
Keystone (architecture)
A keystone is the wedge-shaped stone piece at the apex of a masonry vault or arch, which is the final piece placed during construction and locks all the stones into position, allowing the arch to bear weight. This makes a keystone very important structurally...
. In the center of the arched doorway is a carved lion
Lion
The lion is one of the four big cats in the genus Panthera, and a member of the family Felidae. With some males exceeding 250 kg in weight, it is the second-largest living cat after the tiger...
's head. The formal balance used by the Italianate design is accentuated by the brick quoins
Quoin (architecture)
Quoins are the cornerstones of brick or stone walls. Quoins may be either structural or decorative. Architects and builders use quoins to give the impression of strength and firmness to the outline of a building...
. The window to the immediate right of the main entrance was a storefront entrance, but it was altered on an unknown date to match the remaining windows. A corbel table provides horizontal division between the first and second floors. The second story consists of six identical four by four double hung windows featuring stone sill
Sill plate
A sill plate or sole plate in construction and architecture is the bottom horizontal member of a wall or building to which vertical members are attached. Sill plates are usually composed of lumber. It usually comes in sizes of 2×4, 2×6, 2×8, and 2×10. In the platform framing method the sill plate...
s and raised brick Gothic
Gothic architecture
Gothic architecture is a style of architecture that flourished during the high and late medieval period. It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture....
arches with keystones. The two center windows are paired. The remnants of a cornice
Cornice
Cornice molding is generally any horizontal decorative molding that crowns any building or furniture element: the cornice over a door or window, for instance, or the cornice around the edge of a pedestal. A simple cornice may be formed just with a crown molding.The function of the projecting...
are visible just above the keystones on the second story. The windows on the top floor are similar to the second except they are one by one sash and have nearly flat brick arches with keystones. A row of corbeled brick in the form of dentil
Dentil
In classical architecture a dentil is a small block used as a repeating ornament in the bedmould of a cornice.The Roman architect Vitruvius In classical architecture a dentil (from Lat. dens, a tooth) is a small block used as a repeating ornament in the bedmould of a cornice.The Roman architect...
s surmount these windows, and there is a large round window centered in the facade. Additional corbeled bricks serve as an elaborate terminus to the building. The gable
Gable
A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of a sloping roof. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system being used and aesthetic concerns. Thus the type of roof enclosing the volume dictates the shape of the gable...
roof has a slight pitch and each wall as a parapet
Parapet
A parapet is a wall-like barrier at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony or other structure. Where extending above a roof, it may simply be the portion of an exterior wall that continues above the line of the roof surface, or may be a continuation of a vertical feature beneath the roof such as a...
.
The west sidewall is pierced on the third floor by five double hung windows, two of which are one by one sash. The east elevation features eight double hung windows on the first floor, seven on the second, and six on the third; all of these opening have stone sills with segmental brick arches. The rear of the building has the 1899 one-story brick addition with a skillion roof
Skillion roof
A skillion roof is normally a single sloping roof surface, not attached to another roof surface. Skillion roofs are sometimes called a shed roof, a flat roof, in Australia or a lean-to in the UK....
.
Other than minor repainting and the removal of the awnings, the exterior of the building has undergone few changes since the 1899 redesign. The building was sandblasted in 1970, and in 1987 the building was tuckpointed
Tuckpointing
Tuckpointing is a way of using two contrasting colours of mortar in brickwork, one colour matching the bricks themselves, to give an artificial impression that very fine joints have been made.-History:...
and a new roof and fire sprinkler system was added. The building has since been repainted to look as it did in the late 19th century.
History
After treaties were signed with local Native AmericanIndigenous peoples of the Americas
The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...
tribes in 1851, the Minnesota River Valley was opened for settlement. In 1854, the first large group of settlers from the Chicago Land Society arrived in Brown County
Brown County, Minnesota
Brown County is a county located in the U.S. state of Minnesota. As of 2010, the population was 25,893. Its county seat is New Ulm.-Geography:...
. The Society was organized by German immigrants in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
who desired to establish their own Midwestern colony, and New Ulm was plat
Plat
A plat in the U.S. is a map, drawn to scale, showing the divisions of a piece of land. Other English-speaking countries generally call such documents a cadastral map or plan....
ted in 1855. They were soon joined by Turner Germans
Turners
Turners are members of German-American gymnastic clubs. A German gymnastic movement was started by Turnvater Friedrich Ludwig Jahn in the early 19th century when Germany was occupied by Napoleon...
from Cincinnati and formed the German Land Association of Minnesota. New Ulm was planned as a trading and agricultural center, but was unlike other area settlements in that it was not planned by or for the railroad; rather, the development relied on steamboat
Steamboat
A steamboat or steamship, sometimes called a steamer, is a ship in which the primary method of propulsion is steam power, typically driving propellers or paddlewheels...
s on the Minnesota River until the 1870s.
The 1860 population of New Ulm was 635, with only two of non-German descent. Among the predominantly German population was Phillip H. Gross. Gross was born in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
on October 12, 1809, and was a baker
Baker
A baker is someone who bakes and sells bread, Cakes and similar foods may also be produced, as the traditional boundaries between what is produced by a baker as opposed to a pastry chef have blurred in recent decades...
by trade. His first wife was a widow with three children, and together they had five more; she died in 1853 and he married again and had another five children with his second wife. He came to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
in 1854, spending his first two years in Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Milwaukee is the largest city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin, the 28th most populous city in the United States and 39th most populous region in the United States. It is the county seat of Milwaukee County and is located on the southwestern shore of Lake Michigan. According to 2010 census data, the...
. In 1856 he joined a group going to New Ulm and started a hotel.
The two-story wood-frame building was called the Minnesota Haus, and was the only business in the community providing room and board
Room and board
Room and board describes a situation where, in exchange for money, labor or other considerations, a person is provided with a place to live as well as meals on a comprehensive basis...
to visitors. Business was good, and after the hotel burned down in 1860, Gross rebuilt and renamed it as the larger Union Hotel. The hotel became a focal point of activity in New Ulm and during the Dakota War of 1862
Dakota War of 1862
The Dakota War of 1862, also known as the Sioux Uprising, was an armed conflict between the United States and several bands of the eastern Sioux. It began on August 17, 1862, along the Minnesota River in southwest Minnesota...
, when New Ulm itself was put under siege, served as a hospital
Hospital
A hospital is a health care institution providing patient treatment by specialized staff and equipment. Hospitals often, but not always, provide for inpatient care or longer-term patient stays....
as over 185 of the city's buildings were burned. Among the doctors at the hospital was William Worrall Mayo
William Worrall Mayo
William Worrall Mayo was a British medical doctor and chemist, best known for establishing the private medical practice that later evolved into the Mayo Clinic. He was a descendant of a famous English chemist, John Mayow. His sons, William James Mayo and Charles Horace Mayo, joined the private...
, who would later found the Mayo Clinic
Mayo Clinic
Mayo Clinic is a not-for-profit medical practice and medical research group specializing in treating difficult patients . Patients are referred to Mayo Clinic from across the U.S. and the world, and it is known for innovative and effective treatments. Mayo Clinic is known for being at the top of...
in Rochester, Minnesota
Rochester, Minnesota
Rochester is a city in the U.S. state of Minnesota and is the county seat of Olmsted County. Located on both banks of the Zumbro River, The city has a population of 106,769 according to the 2010 United States Census, making it Minnesota's third-largest city and the largest outside of the...
. Commercial activity increased after the conflict increased as a new influx of settlers arrived to take advantage of land provided through the Homestead Act
Homestead Act
A homestead act is one of three United States federal laws that gave an applicant freehold title to an area called a "homestead" – typically 160 acres of undeveloped federal land west of the Mississippi River....
. New Ulm began developing into a producer, exporter and processor of agricultural products and became a regional center once the railroad arrived in the area in 1872. The Union Hotel flourished, but was destroyed by fire on July 5, 1875. The fire began in an adjacent large barn belonging to the hotel which spread to the main structure; the hotels furniture was saved but fire fighting efforts moved to saving other structures on the street. The loss was estimated at about $6,000; Gross was insured to $4,200.
Gross immediately rebuilt the hotel as a two-story brick structure, hiring architect Julius Berndt, who would go on to design the Hermann Monument. Gross operated it until retiring in 1885; he died on September 19, 1895. His son-in-law, Wenzel Schotzko, took over managing the hotel. Meanwhile, by 1884 two other hotels opened in New Ulm and in 1899 a new owner of the Union Hotel added the third floor and conducted renovations that brought the hotel's exterior to its present form. The renamed Grand Hotel had thirty sleeping rooms, an office, a new kitchen and large dining room which occupied half of the first floor. As a result of these changes, the hotel continued to play an important role in downtown New Ulm into the 20th century.
Over the ensuing years, the building fell out of use as a hotel and went through a succession of owners and various occupants. In 1970 it was purchased and turned into a boarding house
Boarding house
A boarding house, is a house in which lodgers rent one or more rooms for one or more nights, and sometimes for extended periods of weeks, months and years. The common parts of the house are maintained, and some services, such as laundry and cleaning, may be supplied. They normally provide "bed...
. In the 1990s it housed a coffee shop, framing gallery and radio station KNUJ
KNUJ (AM)
KNUJ is a radio station in New Ulm, Minnesota. The station airs a full service news/talk format and is owned by James Ingstad. KNUJ also has a sister station, KNUJ-FM.-History:...
; the third floor was vacant. In 2000, Anne Makepeace, the great-great granddaughter of Philip Gross, purchased the building with her husband and members of her family. In February 2003, the Makepeaces began restoring the building to its original appearance in the late 19th century. It currently houses a restaurant, the Grand Kabaret, and shops.
Significance
The Grand Hotel is significant because of its association with the development of New Ulm's business district, which played a central role in the economic growth of the southern Minnesota River Valley in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It is also architecturally noteworthy as a good example of an Italianate commercial building. It is the finest largely unaltered example of mid-Victorian period commercial design in New Ulm and the surrounding area. Other commercial buildings of larger size with greater detailing remain in New Ulm, but the majority were constructed at least ten years later and have had their street level facades dramatically altered (see the Boesch, Hummel, and Maltzahn BlockBoesch, Hummel, and Maltzahn Block
The Boesch, Hummel, and Maltzahn Block, also referred to as the Boesch-Hummel-Maltzahn Block, is a historic building in New Ulm, Minnesota. The private, commercial structure was placed on the National Register of Historic Places on December 31, 1979...
); as such, no building in the downtown commercial district has retained such a high degree of historic architectural integrity.