Susan Bady has been writing about the housing industry for 25 years. She most recently served as senior editor of design for Professional Builder and Custom Builder magazines, and is now a contributing editor to those publications as well as the portal Web site HousingZone.com. Bady has also written for such consumer magazines as Cabin Life and Better Homes and Gardens’ Home Plan Ideas. You can reach her at susanbady@sbcglobal.net.
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The lobby of the Historic Park Inn in Mason City, Iowa. Photo courtesy of Stoney Creek Inn.
As a self-confessed Frank Lloyd Wright dork, you would think I already knew about the Historic Park Inn in Mason City, Iowa—the last remaining Wright-designed hotel on the planet. But it wasn’t until I received my copy of Arts and Crafts Homes magazine that I learned about this national treasure. Originally built in 1910, the Park Inn Hotel was recently restored to all its Prairie School glory. The hotel has 27 guest rooms, one of which has been renovated in period style complete with the original claw-foot tub.
According to Arts and Crafts Homes, at least 32 Prairie-style houses were built between 1908 and 1922, of which 17 are on the National Register of Historic Places. There are also several Usonian houses in the area. I’m staying at the Historic Park Inn on Wednesday night (in the period suite, no less), and plan to see as many of these houses as possible. I’ll give you a more detailed report in my next blog post. Happy trails!
