also, when we were doing the very preliminary work for Forest City on the Merc. the Grand was part of the deal. the idea was to punch holes in the slabs and create two-level loft units.
That's the way to do it. Or better yet, create a mezanine or loft bedroom by cutting out half of the floor of the room above facing the outside wall. The downtownstairs bath area converts to the kitchen. Two hotel rooms stacked become a one-bedroom loft. Four hotel rooms become a two-bedroom.
That would be great if they make is residential - according to Justin's information (entry #224), it sounds like the NY buyer may keep it as a hotel. It could certainly be both (as some earlier plans by other developers had indicated).
Originally Posted by drumguy8800
This has overhangs and balconies. What's the difference?
About 50 years.
This has overhangs and balconies. What's the difference?
As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals... Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience's sake. - B. Obama 1/20/09
But Elvis never stayed at the W.
See how good looking the W is in 50 years. The overhang on the roof will be the first the folks will want to tear down.
Give the Grand a couple of more decades and people will talk about how 'quaint' it is.
If you'll dig to the bottom of this pdf, you'll find these are the people who own this hotel.
http://202.66.146.82/listco/hk/farea...000/ar2000.pdf
I don't know when it was redone, but here's how it originally looked:
Lights in the lobby are on tonight but no one's home...
This is the thing I never understood about this style of building... they always "plug in" an undersized entrance area. I guess it is just a response to the fact that everybody in the past made the entrance so HUGE and overly... well... overdone.
The whole thing gives me a 1950's resort feel, but the entrance is just so skimpy. It seems like somebody could design something to plug into that portion of the building that might even change the air current. It could possibly even go vertical (in a contemporary, but reverant manner) and be a new landmark to re-distinguish the building as being renovated and open for business.
That rotating sculpure looked really great. It would be nice to see that sculpture returned if it still exists. I'm not sure what happened to it.
Buildings like this make me think that people half a century ago worked really hard to make Dallas into the destination that it is not today.
I mean, even the AP said that a major reason why the Cotton Bowl ticket prices had gone down from their $90 face value to their $19 trading value was because Dallas isn't a destination travellers want to visit.
Ahhh... what might have been.
Last edited by SCARLETandBLACK; 08 January 2007 at 06:25 AM.
That's spooky. I always get my hopes up when I see a light on in an abandon building, but I saw quite a few lights on at 211 N. Ervay many months ago and nothing seemed to come of it.Lights in the lobby are on tonight but no one's home...
I find myself wondering, "If I broke into that building to have a look around and got arrested, what's the worst that a judge would do to me?"
I was thinking the same thing last night. But it was a bit too spooky to go in all alone. Someone *ahem* with access to these buildings will have to invite me along sometime.
*ahem* same here
Last edited by TobyAdams; 09 January 2007 at 03:28 PM.
well, i don't know personally (because breaking and entering is illegal), but i have heard rumors that if you make it far enough into the building to set off the motion detectors, two or three dallas rollers will swoop in a matter of about 5-7 minutes...which kills me, because you can't get a cop to investigate a crime that happens to a normal citizen.
the caretaker of the grand derives perverse pleasure from catching errant trespassers. i mean, setting up boobytraps and whatnot....whooo. of course, i know none of this firsthand...
If the caretaker cares so much, why doesn't he do basic things like closing open windows and replacing or boarding broken windows? I can't even imagine the mess left after leaving a window open for five years (bird poop, water damage, sun damage, etc. )
It's amazing to me they completely neglect the building yet set boobie traps and leave cheap lamps burning all the time.
I doubt they set booby-traps. Those are highly illegal. A trespasser can sue if a place is booby-trapped. (That is the only time a trespasser can sue).
I wouldn't doubt the motion detector alarms.
DAGNABBIT!
^ninja made it in somehow.
hence the name.....
“We shape our Cities, thereafter they shape us.”
I have it on good intel that Ninjatune is a shape-shifter.
DAGNABBIT!
heh, you guys crack me up....
with any luck, i hope to have my files up later this evening. they won't even come close to mr. grant's work, but they should still be fun to look at.
fouta: not sure, but I don't think it happened..... a mover/shaker here in our building laughed at the idea, evidently, so…. who knows.. sorry folks, my hopes were up, too. from now on, i'll keep any chatter to myself...unless its confirmed by at least two sources..
booby traps? no comment..
words of advice: stay at home..
select windows are left open for ventilation, i think.. jason, please correct me if i'm wrong. this was only on levels 4 and 5, as they were never updated in the last renovation... that had to be the weirdest thing about my grand experience... the idea of two floors being sealed off and left to rot, literally, while the rest of the hotel carried on, seemed really odd.
20th floor
4th floor
watch for a link …
There is actually a funny B movie that was shot in this hotel back in the 60's
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0060672/fullcredits
Mars needs Women- don't know why IMDB lists it as a made for TV movie, and I thought it was done before 67 but anyway the movie has all sorts of scenes shot in Dallas-White Rock Lake Pump Building, the Hotel, Central Expressway, A Stripclub on Lower Greenville *(athens strip? which I know was still around in the mid 70's),and a few other Dallas locations, in Richardson they were at the old Collins Radio Site with the big space dishes and someone on IMBD posted that some scenes were also in Houston (not sure about that at all since I thought it was all shot in Dallas like over 5 days or so).
http://www.jabootu.com/acolytes/bnotes/marsneed.htm
Amazing pics. I did not realize furniture was left behind...
“We shape our Cities, thereafter they shape us.”
Very creepy!!!
Maybe we should all move in and claim title to the building by Adverse Possession.
Your fingers say "stay at home", but your camera says otherwise, sir.
This was a project for Preservation Dallas. No urbex hero stuff here. We had permission to be in the building at all times. Having said that, I would strongly advise against attempting entry here. The motion detectors and live feed would be the least of your worries.
I had hoped to have these done by now, but it ain't gonna happen.
Hang tight and I'll try to have these knocked asap. <click thumbs>
Last edited by Justin Terveen; 23 July 2009 at 12:33 AM.
That old entrance reminds me of the Meadows Building entrance on GreenvilleI don't know when it was redone, but here's how it originally looked:
It looks like in the olden days they had some kind of retractable canvas awning they would stretch out the front on rainy days.
It also looks a bit like the style of the old Love Field. I think it was a mistake to 'update' that facade with cheesy, generic late 80s stone...
Did I understand you correctly?the idea of two floors being sealed off and left to rot, literally, while the rest of the hotel carried on, seemed really odd.
While the Hotel was in operation, two floors were open to the elements and deteriorating? I believe you that it happened, but it seems absurd that the city would allow such a thing to happen.
I doubt it would have hurt the building's structure at all, but the health effects (including the possibility of the spread of mold) seem outrageous. (Also, there must be the smell of rotting drywall, insulation, and carpeting that would eminate from the floors to the immediate outside area when a window is opened.)
Those two floors should have at least had a sealed envelope with proper ventelation and every necessity required under city and international codes- even if the floors were completely empty and had no proper hotel appointments.
I can't say what condition the floors were in while the hotel was still in operation, but yes, you understood correctly.
I seriously doubt they were anywhere near as bad as they are today. When they decided to renovate, 4 and 5 were just skipped. The floors were still fine, just outdated. And the windows weren't left open until after the hotel had closed (I would guess).
Yes it was a horrible mistake, remember they ripped out the old ice rink from the lobby too. Most these youngsters don't have a clue.
From all this we may learn that there are two races of men in this world, but only these two - the "race" of the decent man and the "race" of the indecent man. Viktor E. Frankl
I posted the pictures Ninjatune and I took of the 1955 George Dahl building–the old Dallas Public Library–right next to the Grand:
http://nostalgicglass.org/display.php?pn=19
It's a separate building from the hotel, but I thought I'd mention it here, since they're now owned by the same people, and whatever happens to the Grand will affect the old library too.
happened to be by the old library today and still taped to an inside door is a building permit from 2004!
Any word on whether this sale every went through? I haven't seen any press or heard anything.
nah.. i think i posted about it a few weeks back...
Is the old ballroom space large enough for a bowling alley? I think that would be fun to have downtown.
oh yeah.. plenty large...
trying to finish off the remaining files.. more to come... lots more.
Last edited by Justin Terveen; 23 July 2009 at 12:35 AM.
Nice. And it has a dance floor.
That sofa would be perfect for my office.
Weird, they even left the computers? Looks like they got out of that place in a damn hurry.
If downtown Main Street keeps improving upon itself, it's hard to imagine that beautiful-inside-and-out hotel will sit idle much longer. If the 1,000(+/-) room convention center hotel ever gets going and allows more mega conventions to stage in Dallas, CBD hotel room inventory will be point-in-time short making the rennovation of 1,000(+/-) Statler-Hilton-Grand hotel rooms even more likely.
Having the experience of an exciting downtown atmosphere is going to eliminate the sluggishness from the CBD hotel submarket.
they left everything. such an eerie scene... esp the rooms.. time just stopped.
There was a roadside "teepee" motel near my college in Nebraska that is the same way. The owner died and they just closed up one day and left everything as it was. Rooms still made up, papers in the office, etc. We went exploring one day... all the rooms are unlocked and normal... but one room had a dummy in the bed covered in red paint and a bunch of other "satanic" symbols on the walls. When I peeked in the door it was pretty frightening... good thing it wasn't night!
We would also explore abandoned farm houses that still had furniture and moth-eaten clothes hanging in the closet. Very eerie seeing some of the things that have just stayed still in time.
Anyway, you're photos remind me of those times. Here's some info about that hotel:
The so-called "teepee motel" west of Lincoln, NE on I-80 is actually the former Milford Inn, part of the "Westward Ho! Campground" at the Milford exit and directly across the street from the World's Largest Covered Wagon. Kenneth Dahle, the same man who constructed the covered wagon gas station, also owned the adjoining motel/campground property, on which he built two large wooden teepees to attract motorists. One teepee contains a men's and women's restroom with showers, while the other was once used as a spare motel room. Additionally, there are several Western-themed wooden decorations on the property such as buffalo silhouette cutouts, campground markers shaped as arrowheads, and picnic tables with painted-on Indian symbols. In the 1960s, Kenneth had an 1800's-era schoolhouse and church moved to the side of the road a few yards from the motel to function as tourist attractions (easily visible from the site).
Last edited by dfwcre8tive; 13 March 2007 at 11:24 PM.
It looks as if the interior has deteriorated greatly in the five years the Grand has been closed. It also looks as if it has sustained lots of moisture and water damage. Are the molded walls and peeling paint prevalent throughout the building or are these photos from the floors that have the open windows and, thus, more exposed to the elements? Also, if the Grand were to be brought back to life, is it probable that it will be gutted completely or is it possible to repair the original interior?
Lest anyone gets all excited and has delusions of breaking-and-entering, that looks like a mainframe terminal, technology from the late '80s or early '90s. Similar to the green-screened monsters that Auto Zone just started replacing, except older. You can probably pick up a dozen any First Saturday for $5 a piece. In other words -- not worth moving.
Not related to the topic, but there's a teepee motel in Wharton, Texas (SW of Houston off of US 59). It looked to be crumbling when we first saw it, on the way to Matagorda Beach, but last summer I saw that all the teepees had a fresh coat of brown plaster and appeared to be in the final stages of restoration. Sure enough, a Google search on "wharton teepee motel" turns up several links, including these:
Page with exterior, historical, and pre-renovation pix
http://www.texasescapes.com/Preserva...rton-Texas.htm
Local page with inside pix
http://www.whartoncountycourthouse.c...ized/index.htm
As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals... Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience's sake. - B. Obama 1/20/09
There was a roadside "teepee" motel near my college in Nebraska that is the same way. The owner died and they just closed up one day and left everything as it was. Rooms still made up, papers in the office, etc. We went exploring one day... all the rooms are unlocked and normal... but one room had a dummy in the bed covered in red paint and a bunch of other "satanic" symbols on the walls. When I peeked in the door it was pretty frightening... good thing it wasn't night!
We would also explore abandoned farm houses that still had furniture and moth-eaten clothes hanging in the closet. Very eerie seeing some of the things that have just stayed still in time.
Anyway, you're photos remind me of those times. Here's some info about that hotel:
The so-called "teepee motel" west of Lincoln, NE on I-80 is actually the former Milford Inn, part of the "Westward Ho! Campground" at the Milford exit and directly across the street from the World's Largest Covered Wagon. Kenneth Dahle, the same man who constructed the covered wagon gas station, also owned the adjoining motel/campground property, on which he built two large wooden teepees to attract motorists. One teepee contains a men's and women's restroom with showers, while the other was once used as a spare motel room. Additionally, there are several Western-themed wooden decorations on the property such as buffalo silhouette cutouts, campground markers shaped as arrowheads, and picnic tables with painted-on Indian symbols. In the 1960s, Kenneth had an 1800's-era schoolhouse and church moved to the side of the road a few yards from the motel to function as tourist attractions (easily visible from the site).
I'm from Nebraksa and know of the teepee's you are referring to. Always reminded me of a small hippie compound.
The office photo was the most interesting.
Here is my theory on it.
It appears when the owner left for the night and came back the next day the doors were locked so no one could get in.
I wonder if there is some documention on it somewhere.
Several years back I remember peaking through the windows of the Merc and seeing some papers lying around, I wish I could get a handful of those paper in the Dallas Grand Hotel and get an idea of how the business was run. when ever a building is going down or I try to see if I can get an paper sovenear or stack of them. I got some from the Prime time Auto and Slider and Blues . The problem with old paperwork is names of people that are still alive, the world of Idenity theft most paper files go to the shredder.
I have other paper work from Compusa, that can be archived, mosty planograms and misc paperwork.
As time goes on I will post some of the paper on my flickr account. If any one get interesting paper files that don't post an identity threat send them my way and I will post them on flickr.
I will tell you this ton of Paperwork will go to the shredder as our store closes.
Scott Dorn
Hitting the streets with the cam
http://www.flickr.com/photos/70886669@N00/
http://homepage.mac.com/sdorn/dallas_shots
http://www.myspace.com/177586541
I heard from a decent source that this property has been purchased within the last couple of weeks... can anyone confirm this?
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