Last week we shared some throwback snapshots from the pre-restoration days of French Lick Springs Hotel. Today, it's West Baden's turn. This one was an even more extreme makeover, since this grand structure went 75 years between welcoming hotel guests — it closed in 1932 and reopened in 2007. Another remarkable chapter of our long history to celebrate during this Preservation Month in May.
This was January 1991, when the story of West Baden's rebirth began at less than zero. A buildup of ice on the roof caused the collapse of a portion of the south wall of the hotel, dropping five levels of guestrooms to the ground along with it. The crumbled section represented about 12,000 square feet of space, or about 3 percent of the hotel's total area. At this point, the building had been sitting vacant for eight years since last being inhabited by Northwood Institute.
By 1997, the collapsed section of wall was rebuilt, thanks to the efforts of several different parties during the six years in between. The Historic Landmarks Foundation of Indiana first stepped in with $140,000 for emergency stabilization of the hotel in 1992. Then in 1996, Historic Landmarks purchases the hotel for $250,000 thanks to anonymous gift, then turns its attention to further rescuing the building from neglect and finding a new use for it.
Saving the hotel's double-arch entryway was symbolic that restoration of this historic hotel property was truly underway, after the community had been let down by false hopes before. Craftsmen were able to restore the arches true to how they appeared when first installed in 1914.
Can you believe these boarded-up lobby doors look like this today? The restoration shifted into overdrive when Historic Landmarks — which had initially been unsuccessful trying to find a buyer for the hotel — partnered with philanthropists Bill and Gayle Cook to not only rehab the building, but restore it back to its original use as a grand hotel. As leaders of the global medical device manufacturing company Cook Group, the Cooks want their work to result in living, breathing historic places that will be around for centuries to come.
Most of the hotel's interior spaces were rebuilt from square one. Note how the original lobby had a fireplace on the far wall (near where the door to enter the library is today).
The former kitchen at the rear of the hotel required a major rebuild.
Before and in-progress pics of the hotel's former dining room, which today houses Sinclair's Restaurant and Café Sinclair's.
Never mind the work that needed done to the building. Clearing the property of overgrowth was a major undertaking in itself. Hundreds of wild trees and tons of weeds and brush overtook the grounds during the years of neglect. Clockwise from top left are the front drive with the arches in the background, the front steps of the hotel, the Bowling and Billiards Pavilion, and the Apollo Spring House.
An exposed chunk of the atrium wall reveals the original brick style from the hotel's early days. By 1917, the hotel and grounds were renovated by owner Lillian Sinclair, and the mid-2000s restoration captured this style.
Some telling snapshots of where the atrium started. Amazingly, the statues like the ones you see in the lower left were one feature that was undisturbed by all the years of neglect and vandalism, and the changes in ownership from 1932 through the early 1980s.
The atrium floor underwent a repair in 1996 to address cracks and irregularities that had persisted for decades. A large section of the floor was replaced and the area below was excavated. When the hotel was constructed in 1901-02 in a rush to build it as quickly as possible, crews took shortcuts in the materials they used. Over the years, groundwater filled the bedrock under the floors and walls of the hotel, causing the atrium floor to buckle upward in spots.
A view of the atrium from the second level, and other "before" shots in and around the hotel.
Work in progress on the guestroom floors. If it weren't for the curved walls, you'd hardly recognize this as the same place now.
The atrium was a spacious and convenient staging area during restoration. In total, $600 million went into this "Save of the Century" resort-wide, including refurbishing French Lick Springs Hotel and The Donald Ross Course, and the new construction of The Pete Dye Course.
It was more than 16 years in the making from the time of the hotel's wall collapse to when it reopened to guests in 2007, but well worth the wait and the work to return West Baden Springs Hotel to its glory once again.
