Editor's note: This story is featured in OU Daily's Best of Oklahoma guide, which is available around campus in March-April. Check out other featured stories at the bottom of this article.
Fusing Roaring ‘20s glamor with modern comfort, The Mayo Hotel in downtown Tulsa offers a luxury experience in a historic site.
When The Mayo Hotel was built in 1925, it was the tallest building in Oklahoma. As an art deco-style building with 600 rooms, ceiling fans in every room and running ice water, the hotel was the pinnacle of luxury. Fueled by Tulsa’s booming oil economy, the Mayo quickly rose in popularity within high society.
The hotel became a celebrity hotspot, with visits from Marilyn Monroe, President John F. Kennedy, Lucille Ball, Elvis Presley, Charlie Chaplin and many others.
With the crash of Tulsa’s oil economy in the early 1980s, the Mayo closed its doors. While changing ownership over the years, the building was emptied out and sank into disrepair.
In 2001, John Snyder learned that the owners of The Mayo Hotel were planning to demolish the building. Fairly new to the city, Snyder was unaware of the extent of the Mayo’s significance, but was drawn to the building by his love of history.
The owners offered to sell Snyder The Mayo Hotel for $1 and the parking lot behind it for $250,000, Snyder’s daughter Macy Snyder-Amatucci told OU Daily.
“We didn't know what we were going to do with it. Downtown Tulsa was dead,” Snyder-Amatucci said. “People thought that we were absolutely crazy because at that time, even though it was $1, it was still not a good investment in most people's minds.”
Starting in 2007, The Mayo Hotel became the first project of historic restoration and management company Brickhugger LLC. Snyder-Amatucci is the current vice president of the company, which still owns and operates The Mayo Hotel.
As a historic tax credit project, the renovation had to mimic The Mayo Hotel’s original design. The grand staircase was built to mimic the original marble and Snyder-Amatucci said the lobby’s floor is the same marble from 1925.
The Mayo Hotel officially reopened in September 2009 for Britney Spears’s concert at the Bank of Oklahoma Center, a quick turnaround that Snyder-Amatucci credits to her father’s construction experience.
“The Mayo was the building that kick-started the entire renovation of downtown Tulsa,” Snyder-Amatucci said.
The Mayo also has 76 private apartments, and it was the first company to bring the concept of apartment hotels to Oklahoma, according to Snyder-Amatucci. Residents have the benefit of residing in a historical luxury building and sharing the Mayo’s amenities, including parking, dry-cleaning, housekeeping and in-room dining.
The Mayo has 102 hotel rooms, over 20,000 square feet of event space and features a rooftop bar and coffee shop. Booking details and information about event space can be found on its website.
This story was edited by Shelby Emery. Sophie Hemker Grace Rhodes, Mary Ann Livingood and Nikkie Aisha copy edited this story.
