Building Description Schneider Hotel - Pampa Hotel, Pampa Texas
The Schneider Hotel is a multi-storied buff-brick building with Spanish Colonial Revival influences of the type popular in the Southwest in the 1920s. The building is an important part of the Pampa skyline, and was readily visible to disembarking railroad passengers, its most important customers. Although the hotel has not operated for many years, the sturdily constructed building remains in generally good condition. Its proximity to other substantial brick buildings from the same time period and brick streets creates an unusually cohesive streetscape.
The Schneider Hotel is a flat-roofed, rectangular, brick building consisting of a five-story central section flanked on each side by a four-story wing. A basement is located under the entire structure. The building faces east and is of a rough-textured buff brick, with dark-brick ornamentation. This contrasting brickwork provides most of the visual interest of the building.
A row of dark bricks above the raised concrete foundation delineates the beginning of the brick walls. A string course consisting of a soldier course of buff brick between two header courses of dark bricks separates the first and section stories of the building, and by its position and visual impact emphasizes the importance of the first-floor lobby area. The arched windows of the first floor are outlined in dark brick, as are all other arched areas of the building. Dark brick is used for all window sills. A wide parapet with diapered brickwork tops the building, extending around all four sides of the taller five-story central section and onto the exposed facades of the four-story wings.
Six-over-one wooden windows are used throughout the building. Those on the first floor are topped by fanlights, but some of this glass has been painted over. The spacing of the fenestration is regular. Several of the upper-story windows repeat the arched motif of the first-floor windows, though fanlights are not employed. Wrought-iron grilles are found on all first-floor, and several of the upper-story, windows. Most of the grilles apparent in historic photos are still in place.
The north and south facades of the hotel are fairly simple, though the motifs common to the rest of the building are repeated here. The less important entrances on these facades consist of a single recessed door with a metal canopy.
The east and west facades of the building are virtually identical, although the symmetry of the northwest facade is broken by the attachment of a two-story wing. A one-story porch with strong Mission Revival influence runs the length of the central part of the building on each of the two main facades. The arcaded porch is of the same buff brick as the rest of the hotel, while its arches are accentuated with a darker brick. The keystones and voussoirs of the arches, the balustrades, and the caps on the curvilinear gables are of cast stone. The concrete porch floor is stained and scored to resemble tile. Multi-colored clay tiles on the porch roof complete the effect, and the portico gives the hotel the somewhat Spanish look popular in the Southwest in the 1920s.
The interior of the hotel features some detailing of note on the ground floor and is essentially utilitarian in character on the upper floors. The lobby has the remnants of its 1920s, Colonial Revival interiors, including paneled piers and ceilings, terrazzo floors, round-headed windows with simple fanlights and Doric columns in major doorways. The multi-run staircase has ornamental bulls-eye medallions on the newels. Dining room and other public rooms are plain, as are upstairs bedrooms. The exception is the bungaloid fireplace and bookcase built into the second-floor suite at the head of the stairs.
The Schneider Hotel building occupies the southern one-half of a block in downtown Pampa bounded by S. Russell on the east, W. Atchison on the south, S. Frost on the west, and W. Foster on the north. The hotel's location between the Santa Fe Railroad main tracks immediately to the south and the Pampa City Hall and Gray County Courthouse to the north was vital to the hotel's early success. The present owner plans to convert the 102 hotel rooms to apartments for the elderly.
