Antlers Hotel (Lorain, Ohio)
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Antlers Hotel is a historic hotel building in
Lorain Lorain may refer to: Places * Lorain, Ohio * Lorain, Pennsylvania * Lorain, Wisconsin * Lorain County, Ohio ** Lorain County Community College * Lorain Township, Minnesota People * René Lorain (born 1900), French athlete * Sophie Lorain, C ...
, Ohio, it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places November 30, 1982.


Building

The building sits on the southwest corner of Washington Avenue and West Erie Avenue overlooking a small city park. The four story rectangular building is by and has a basement. It was built in 1922 of tan brick having ornamental stone and terra cotta features in the Renaissance Revival style. A front porch is partially enclosed by
bays A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a gulf, sea, sound, or bight. A cove is a small, circular bay with a narr ...
projecting from each end of the facade. The porch features
baluster A baluster is an upright support, often a vertical moulded shaft, square, or lathe-turned form found in stairways, parapets, and other architectural features. In furniture construction it is known as a spindle. Common materials used in its cons ...
s and classic detailing which is also present around the windows. The 80 room hotel includes a large auditorium, lobby, restaurant space, kitchen, bar and laundry facilities. In 1982 the building had been vacant for some years and the interior had suffered significant damage, yet the exterior and structure remained intact and in good condition. It has been converted to a 40 unit apartment building.


History

The largest and finest hotel built in Lorain, it was constructed by the local Elks Lodge No. 1301 as a money making venture and to serve as a facility for lodge functions and activities. It opened on August 22, 1922 with 87 rooms and a 1,200 person capacity auditorium. After the
1924 Lorain–Sandusky tornado The 1924 Lorain–Sandusky tornado was a deadly F4 tornado which struck the towns of Sandusky and Lorain, Ohio on Saturday, June 28, 1924. At least 85 people were killed by the tornado, with others killed by tornadoes that struck the northern and ...
a temporary branch of the
Cleveland Trust KeyBank, the primary subsidiary of KeyCorp, is a regional bank headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, and is the only major bank based in Cleveland. KeyBank is one of the largest banks in the United States. Key's customer base spans retail, small b ...
bank was opened in the hotel. One of the oldest
Alcoholics Anonymous Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) is an international mutual aid fellowship of alcoholics dedicated to abstinence-based recovery from alcoholism through its spiritually-inclined Twelve Step program. Following its Twelve Traditions, AA is non-professi ...
meetings started on October 22, 1941 in the Antlers Hotel. Construction of the Ohio Turnpike and
Interstate 90 Interstate 90 (I-90) is an east–west transcontinental freeway and the longest Interstate Highway in the United States at . It begins in Seattle, Washington, and travels through the Pacific Northwest, Mountain West, Great Plains, Midwest, and ...
coupled with motels built in the suburbs led decline for the Antlers Hotel and it was vacant from mid-1974 to 1986 when it was restored.


Modern times

A holding company, Lorain Inc., bought the hotel in 1960 and sold it to Olimpio and Leona Giannini in 1966. Olimpio Giannini was charged (in 1967 and later convicted) with keeping a place for prostitution and a 15–year old girl was charged as a prostitute for the hotel. The hotel was boarded up from 1974 to 1985 when the city guaranteed about of low interest federal loans so Jon R. Veard could purchase and restore the building. It was opened as an apartment building in 1986 and it was maintaining near full occupancy mostly with senior residents.


See also

*
Child prostitution Child prostitution is prostitution involving a child, and it is a form of commercial sexual exploitation of children. The term normally refers to prostitution of a minor, or person under the legal age of consent. In most jurisdictions, child ...
* Historic preservation * History of Alcoholics Anonymous * National Register of Historic Places listings in Lorain County, Ohio * Urban decay
Urban renewal Urban renewal (also called urban regeneration in the United Kingdom and urban redevelopment in the United States) is a program of land redevelopment often used to address urban decay in cities. Urban renewal involves the clearing out of blighte ...


References


External links

* * Buildings and structures in Lorain, Ohio Hotel buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Ohio National Register of Historic Places in Lorain County, Ohio {{LorainCountyOH-NRHP-stub