Years+Grasp+at+Windsor

Copied from //The Garden City Telegram// Friday, May 23, 1986 by Pam Zubeck - Staff Writer

Once known as the "Waldorf of the Prairie," the Windsor Hotel is no longer the glamour girl of the 1880s who entertained rich cowboys, hosted glorious balls and served up delectable meals.

Her 100 years have caught up with her. Wood rotting, plaster shipping and falling, walls shifting - the grand old lady looks her age.

But she's a tough old broad and has survived a string of owners during her ccentury on Garden City's Main Street. Though a state fire marshal's inspection in November 1976 ruled it a firetrap and doomed her upper floors to vacancy, the hostelry relied on a ground-level business to keep her alive.

Now, her last occupant is leaving her. Garnand Furniture closes for good July 31. The store's owner, Danny Stinemetz, said the closing is in response to economics.

All available historic accounts of the Windsor say that buffalo hunter John Stevens built the four-story, 125-room hotel in 1887. But the brass plate riveted to the cornerstone of the building reflects the date of 1886.

According to the reports, Stevens used native rock and brick from a kiln, which operated on the site where the Garden Drive In theater was on East Fulton.

The original hotel contained no closets and only one bath, that in the owner's private suite. The opera house, where a succession of great entertainers of the 1880s trooped across the stage in a luxusious setting of red velvet and chandeliers, was built the year before and adjoined the hotel on the south.

The Stevens suite opened onto the court and provided direct access to their opera box through folding doors.

Stevens lost the hotel and opera house in 1893 in the bad times that followed the booming 1880s, according to an article written by former Garden City Telegram editor, Bill Brown. Ownership passed to J.E. Baker in partnership with a Mr. Inge.

From the Baker and Inge partnership, the hotel passed to the late Mr. and Mrs. Conrad Gabriel who operated the hotel for a brief time around 1920. The Windsor went through the Baker estate to his daughter, Mrs. Eva Sharer.

Sharer sold the property to the late Bryant Garnand in January 1949, according to records at the Finney Country Register of Deeds office. Garnand deeded the property to the Windsor Hotel Inc. on Nov. 1, 1950. That corporation, composed of Garnand's descendants, remins the owner today.

Shareholders in the corporation are Alton B. Garnand, Destin, Fla., Bruce and Robert Garnand, Santa Fe, N.M., Richard Garnand, Littleton, Colo., and Katherine Elsey, Garden City.

Bob Garnand said he doesn't know what the future holds for the Windsor.

"We don't have any future plans for the building except to keep it in a safe condition," Garnand said.

"I think it's a real lovely historic building," he said.

The Windsor Hotel was listed on the National Register of Historic Places April 26, 1972, because it is "an excellent example of Renaissance architecture in Kansas, and is one of the few outstanding early hotels left in the state, especially Western Kansas," said Terry Marmet.

Marmet is the preservation architect in the historic preservation department of the Kansas State Historical Society.

Just because the building is on the national register doesn't mean it cannot be torn down, Marmet said. But if those were the plans, the state preservation officer would have the opportunity to comment on the demolition before it occurred.

The city would then be asked to determine any feasible alternatives to destruction. If none were found, it could be demolished, Marmet said.

He said the national register does not require its listings to meet any special structural or fire safety codes.

A turning point for the Windsor Hotel came Nov. 4, 1976, when Victor Breit, deputy state fire marshal, inspected the inn during a hotel inspections sweep statewide.

His report concluded the hotel was in dire need of repairs to correct significant fire hazards. When the corrections were not made, the hotel was closed the following spring.

Floyd Dibbern, state fire marshal at that time, remarked, "Everything's wrong with that building."

Dibbern's report noted these deficiencies: improper exits and fire escapes, exposed wiring that appeared in poor shape, fallen plaster and lack of an approved fire alarm system.

Ironically, one feature of the hotel adding to its charm - the open court area from the second to fourth floor - was found by the fire marshal to be a potential contributor to catastrophe should a fire occur.

In the Nov. 19, 1976, letter to the building's owners, Dibbern wrote: "This building is constructed with a large open court located in the center of the building, starting on the second floor and extending to the roof skylight. Should a fire occur in this area, it would definitely constitute a hazard to life safety."

When the Windsor was closed in spring 1977, it had 89 rooms and had the capability of sleeping about 100 people. Residents of the hotel were forced to find new homes.

A citizen-organized non-profit corporation, The Historic Windsor Inc., was formed to preserve the hotel. That effort dwindled without making any headway.

Since the Windor was closed for occupancy, it appears that no renovation work and only minor repairs have been done.

A visit to the Windor's rooms today reveals sheets on the beds, towels on the racks beside sinks that are equipped with drinking glasses in some instances, and complimentary packaged Camay soaps in others, a bottle of Gallo port wine upside down in one dusty and stained lavatory, shoes under and clothing on top of a bed and Gideon Holy Bibles within arms' reach on night stands.

Buckets to catch rain leaks are positioned on the balconies which overlook the court area. Most of the rooms are furnished with beds, dressers, chairs and oldtime fire escapes - heavy ropes chained to the wall designed to be thrown from the window and shinnied down by occupants.

One room contains a maid's abandoned cleaning wagon, and many rooms have been equipped with bathrooms.

The mahogany wood trim and bannisters on the stairways attest to the elegance of another era.

A sign in the elevator that grinds its way to the upper floors says, "We are not be responsible or liable for injury in the hotel." The bottom of the sign says, "Have a nice day."

"I hate to see it come apart," said Danny Stinemetz, who uses some of the upper floors to store furniture from the store. "And I really hate to leave it." Stinemetz has remodeled the ground-level furniture store several times in the last 10 years.

The most recent fire inspection was in 1976 when Breit looked the old building over, said a spokesman with the state fire marshal's office.

"We would be looking at it if it were being used for pubic use," said Larry Tenopir, attorney for the fire marshal.

"Unless there's a fire danger, we wouldn't have any authority" to inspect it, Tenopir said.

Garden City Fire Chief Allen Shelton said the local department has not inspected the Windsor since he joined the department in 1975.

Firefighters have fought a few fires in the building, but none since Shelton has been on the department. Bill Branden, former longtime entry man for the department, recalled crawling a good distance through the 12- to 18-inch-deep crawl space to extinguish a small fire many years ago. Access to that crawl space is no longer open. Last year, the access point in the alley was concreted over. The building is constructed on native rock and wood beams, Branden said.

Neither has there been a structural evaluation conducted that Garnand knows about.

Pete Olson, director of community development and inspection, said, "It's been looked at a couple of times, I think. I don't know of any detailed reports on it."

Olson said the city has received no complaints in connection with the building. However, City Manager Deane Wiley said Olson toured the building this week with Stinemetz, and a letter likely will be written to the building's owners about window glass falling from the upper floors.

The wood is rotting away from casements, causing the windown glass to fall down onto the street.

"That can happen to a new building," said Garnand, "so I don't think that's a big item. It is and it isn't. The maintenance like that on it is always being looked after and taken care of."

About the condition of ceilings and walls, Garnand said, "That's no big deal. All kinds of building have cracks in the walls."

Garnand said a new roof was put on the building four years ago and "regular maintenance would be done on (the building) to let it not keep deteriorating."

He also said the Windor's poetntial for causing danger to the public is no greater "than any other building on Main Street."

Garnand said he didn't know whether the corporation would consider returning the building to its elegant state of years ago.

Marmet, with the State Historical Society, said no preservation grants have been written since President Reagan took office. The only government incentive to refurbish historic structures is in the form of a 25 percent tax credit. Even that is up in the air because of pending tax legislation, Marmet said.

"It's a wonderful resource. It's too bad something can't be done with it," Marmet said.

Assessed at $81,645 now by the Finney Country appraiser's office, the once elaborate and glorious Windsor has become one of the most photgraphed landmarks in Garden City.

And despite its aging interior, the building still towers above Main Street as it did over the dusty roads of a newly established community of the High Plains.

"It's kind of nice to see it there, isn't it?" Garnand said. "It's certainly stood the test of time."