The last remaining hotel in the world designed by legendary architect Frank Lloyd Wright won new protections today. The Park Inn Hotel in Mason City is being named by “Save America’s Treasures” as one of its official projects.Mason City Mayor Bill Schickel says the designation will categorize the hotel as an irreplaceable historic and cultural treasure. The state legislature last year approved spending 200-thousand dollars for the structure’s restoration, but it will take much more to return the hotel to its original splendor. Schickel says this designation won’t guarantee funding, but it helps.Wright designed six hotels that were built. The other five were demolished. The Park Inn Hotel is listed as one of Iowa’s Top Ten Most Endangered Historic Properties and it’s on the National Register of Historic Places. Mayor Schickel says the structure is now only occupied by the Mason City Chamber of Commerce.The designation by “Save America’s Treasures” puts the two-story, 70-room hotel on a par with other significant national items. The list includes Old Glory, the flag that inspired Francis Scott Key to write “The Star Spangled Banner,” and the tents George Washington and his troops slept in during the Revolutionary War.
