National and State Registers of Historic Places

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County: Finney
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Windsor Hotel

Architect: Not listed
Area of Significance: hotel
Architectural Style(s): Renaissance

Former buffalo hunter and early Garden City settler John A. Stevens financed the construction of the Windsor Hotel, which was built in 1887-1888. His motivation for building the hotel was in part due to the success of another pioneer settler and entrepreneur C. J. (Buffalo) Jones. The four-story hotel was built with native stone and locally-fired bricks and includes 125 rooms. A prominent interior feature includes a central atrium on the second floor that provides a view upward three stories through a skylight. An opera house adjoined the hotel and guests were able to enter this opera house through the hotel atrium. These attractions and a fine dining room afforded the hotel much fame and it became known to many as the "Waldorf of the Prairies." The building is a fine example of Italian Renaissance architecture in Kansas.

• National Register Nomination
• Inventory Record

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