In Iowa, sleeping with Wright

Southwest Pennsylvania's Fallingwater. Chicago's Robie House. Many buildings in Oak Park, Ill. Taliesin in Spring Green, Wis. Taliesin West in Scottsdale, Ariz.

For Frank Lloyd Wright fans, these are longstanding stops on the grand tour of the architect's work. Now there's a new stop a mere 135 miles south of the Twin Cities in Mason City, Iowa.

On a recent fall day, the word was clearly out as excited visitors, including me, dropped by to tour the Historic Park Inn Hotel -- the last remaining hotel of the six Wright designed. The building was reopened in September after an $18 million overhaul, making it the new shining gem in a city that also contains the largest group of Prairie School-designed homes on one site and the star architect-designed Stockman House.

The hotel first opened in 1910 as part of a Prairie School building that also included a bank and law offices. It slid into disrepair and was closed in 1972, becoming apartments and eventually a roosting spot for pigeons. The bank was dramatically altered to accommodate shops and offices.

Now the entire building is a boutique hotel that also is catering to Wright enthusiasts by offering guided tours. Although renovated to modern comforts and safety, the building has been restored to Wright's original design wherever possible and is filled with period furnishings to retain the feel of a bygone era.

The thrill starts before the tour, when you first spot the hotel in Mason City's workaday downtown. Overlooking a small park and surrounded by a hodgepodge of buildings, it looks like a visitor from another planet.

Unexpected and uncommon, it is unmistakably "a Wright" -- a horizontal expanse of cream-colored brick, topped by a flat-looking roof with overhanging eaves, adorned with dabs of colorful terra-cotta tilework, leaded glass windows, lantern-like light fixtures and squat urns.

On the Thursday morning I visited, six people showed up for a tour, all Iowans except for a couple from Washington state. We trailed behind a much larger group on a pre-arranged tour. For almost an hour, our guide -- a longtime Mason City resident -- led us through several public rooms, filling us in on the building's history, design, rescue, restoration and renovation.

We learned that Mason City ended up with this Wright jewel after a local attorney discovered the architect's work at a school that his daughters attended in Spring Green, Wis. (where Wright later built his famous summer home, Taliesin).

Decades later, concerned citizens raised public and private funds to buy and resuscitate the building, now owned by a local nonprofit group, Wright on the Park.

Standing in some rooms, it was easy to picture their past. What is now the hotel's ballroom was originally the City National Bank, a two-story space built to resemble an impenetrable vault.

What's now a second-floor lounge was originally the "Ladies Parlor," with an adjacent "sample room" where visiting farm wives viewed the wares of traveling salesmen. (Not unlike Harold Hill, the character from "The Music Man," written by Mason City native Meredith Willson.)

While much of the bank exterior had to be rebuilt, the original hotel's exterior remained largely intact so it was cleaned and restored. Inside, the lobby's art-glass windows and floor tiles are restored originals while the hotel's elegant carpets are new but designed to fit Wright's sensibilities.

Some original elements, such as the mezzanine, were reconstructed, often using old photos and Wright's designs as a guide. Others, notably the guest rooms, were redesigned. Because few original furnishings remained, the hotel was outfitted with Arts and Crafts or Mission style pieces as well as reproductions of Wright designs, including the bank's barrel-shaped chairs.

We also heard entertaining stories about the discovery of once-vanished bits of the building. Original glass panels, now back in the Skylight Room, were found in a private home. Grillwork from the bank's windows was recovered from another home, where it was being used as a fence.

One disappointment: None of the 27 guest rooms was included on the tour, although we were assured that they are larger than the hotel's original 41 rooms (which were 10 feet square) and have private bathrooms, unlike the originals. After the tour, I did get a quick look inside a lovely, spacious guest room and decided: Next time, I'm staying overnight.