ATWATER, Minn. -- The arched brick entrance and granite pillars of the Hotel Atwater cast a historic shadow of the building's former grandeur on Atwater's Atlantic Avenue.
Step through the doors, however, and that past grandeur is a little more difficult to imagine.
The skeletal studs and wood laths have been stripped bare of plaster.
The hardwood floors are scuffed and covered with dust.
Except for the original newel post that leads to the second floor and a couple of light fixtures -- which originally ran on gas and still hang from the high ceilings -- there's not a lot left inside the building that would suggest grandness.
ADVERTISEMENT
But with an engineer's assessment attesting to the building's structural quality in hand, and the possibility of a sizable grant in the wings, members of the Atwater City Council are hoping to recapture the past, restore the building and return it to the public.
The plan is to reconfigure the interior space of the buildings, which is on the National Register of Historic Places, to provide a new home for the city office, council chambers, library and Police Department.
Making that happen all hinges on getting a grant from the Minnesota Historical Society. The answer to the city's request is expected later this fall.
The hotel has been vacant since 2003. It was built in 1904 as a statement about the hope and future of the small Kandiyohi County town after a devastating 1891 fire destroyed most of the wooden buildings on the block.
It originally operated as a hotel with 22 steam-heated rooms on the second floor and a dining room, kitchen and office on the first floor.
Between 1951 and 1978 the building changed hands several times, according to the city's preliminary grant application that details the building's history. A fireplace was added by the front entry and plumbing installed for the upstairs hotel rooms.
The Atwater city offices and Police Department are housed in the town's old depot, which also has historic significance -- as well as drafty windows and other heating and cooling issues.
Several years ago the library was moved from a deteriorating brick building just down the street from the Hotel Atwater into a rental building.
ADVERTISEMENT
The Council tried to get approval to build a new $900,000 complex to house all three entities. That plan was defeated by the residents in a 2005 special election.
After that the council downsized plans and looked to build a new $350,000 city building this year.
But when residents were asked at a community meeting in April if they wanted a new building or wanted to restore the old hotel for city use, the residents voted to restore the hotel.
