Warrior Hotel, Sioux City Iowa

Date added: December 09, 2023 Categories: Iowa Hotel

The Warrior Hotel was constructed on the eve of the Great Depression, it was the first and last of Sioux City hotels of the mid-20^th Century, and, was the city's finest hotel for over forty years, a local landmark. The Warrior was also the last major investment of Sioux City's leading businessmen before the Depression squelched development there.

Sioux City in the 1920s was a commercially mature community. Its population, supported by a variety of manufacturing enterprises and a major stockyards and meat packing industry, leveled off in growth early in the decade. Within this economy, demand for hotel rooms appears to have been steady but older hotels were in decline, and the businessmen of Sioux City recognized a need for competition with the Hotel Martin, by then the leading hostelry. In a consortium effort, the foremost among them financed what they believed would be a powerful rival for the Martin's operator E. C. Epply, owner of a nationwide hotel enterprise. Billed by the newspapers as a "community hotel," its construction was announced in the fall of 1929. Inexplicably, or possibly because of a shrewd, silent maneuver of Epply's, the consortium leased the property to the Blackstone Hotel Corporation which Epply himself owned. The investors found themselves bound to their competition and this had a profound effect on the business.

Plans were prepared by Alonzo Gentry, (designer of the Harry Truman Library, Independence Mo., and the Kansas City Municipal Auditorium) a Kansas City architect for several midwestern projects of similar scale who had worked for Epply before. Gentry's design was consciously modern, making the point that Sioux City was maintaining an aggressively commercial attitude. The building's pronounced setbacks, cautiously Art Deco reliefs and allusion to spandrel construction, prompted the designation "skyscraper" by the local press. Though hardly that, the plain narrow tower was in decided contrast with its predominantly Chicago commercial-style neighbors. The interior possessed sufficient paint and plaster sumptuousness to establish its reputation as the city's most elaborate hotel and take its place as a local landmark. A citywide solicitation of names for the building produced "The Warrior," a name alluding to Sioux City's early history. In December of 1930 construction was completed.

Unfortunately, modern design could not overcome Depression economics and the investors floundered. Epply was of little help. Having bought into his own competition he continued to favor the Martin and, though he purchased the Warrior in 1941, never transferred that loyalty. Thus, the "community hotel" lost money for the bankers, businessmen, newspaper owner, and contractors whos alliance built it. Appraisals of the business in 1938 blamed hard times and lack of aggressive management for the Warrior's languid commercial performance. It continued to be important, however, as one of the city's two major hotels and as the location of local businesses. Not until the early The 1960s when Sheraton (Sheraton merged with Epply in 1956) converted it to a "motor hotel" would the Warrior achieve dominance, but that was too late for the aging property. It passed through a few owners and finally closed in 1972.

Building Description

The Warrior Hotel is a ten-story commercial structure built in 1930 originally designed as a hotel with first-floor commercial space. The building is square in plan and rises on a reinforced concrete structural frame to its full height on the east and west sides. The infill is of tile block. The north and south walls step back above a tall second floor and again above a third to resume a direct ascent to the top of the building. The third floor separates into two blocks, each one-quarter of the building's length. These flank the formal entrance centered on the south facade. This effect is repeated once on the northeast corner. The building evokes a ziggurat-like massing and its suggestion of Art Deco detail places it within an Art Deco classification.

Two primary facades exist. These are the south and east sides which present an expanse of tan to brown brick with spandrels inset and the whole accentuated with parapets, string courses, and selected window surrounds of an off-white to tan terra cotta. This material also sheaths the entire first floor above a dripcourse of dark green granite. Here the terra cotta is simple modeled and smooth-faced but becomes richly decorative in stylized floral, geometric and bird themes on higher features. Of particular note are six recessed plaques above the second-floor central windows, with flowers, urns, birds, and vertical mouldings. These are flanked by wide projecting modillions which rise to form pyramidal crenellations at the roofline. Special, too, are three roiel balconies on the ninth floor. Windows here and on the floor above are in terra cotta surrounds overlain with a long decorative lintel. The remaining facades are flat, unadorned, and of the same brown brick.

Window and door treatment is typical for a hotel of the period. First-floor fenestration is commercial, with large expanses of plate and centered formal entrances. Immediately above are large four over three double-hung sashes with elaborate surrounds on the primary facades. The remaining floors have simple two-pane sashes in wood on the south and east, and metal on the north and west.

When first constructed, the Warrior had 182 rooms, 18 apartments, and a main lobby on the second floor along with several dining and function rooms. The first floor was devoted to 11 commercial spaces. A main entry and stair were constructed of marble with bronze railings using an Indian head motif. In the lobby and foyers were low marble wainscoting and marble columns at either end. Plaster work which adorned the capitols, freize, and a coffered ceiling was eclectically classical; archaeological in some places and stylized in others.

The original rooms were refurbished between 1958 and 1963 as part of the Sheraton chain's conversion of the property into a "motor hotel." This project included the construction of a one-story rear entry accommodating approach by automobile. On the exterior, minor alterations to the first floor were made and a one-story rear section was removed. The latter was replaced by a carport of some scale. More profound were interior changes to the foyer, lobby, dining, and commercial areas, though most of the major lobby features remain.