Park Hotel

The Park Hotel, designed by the San Antonio architect Leo M. J. Dielmann, was completed in 1917 for an estimated cost of $75,000. It was among the first modern "high-rise" buildings to be constructed in Seguin after the turn of the century. The structure is architecturally significant not only because it is the work of a prominent architect, but because the structure demonstrated the use of important advances in construction techniques associated with the Chicago School during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The Hotel is also historically significant to the development of the modern community of Seguin because of the circumstances surrounding its construction.

Leo M. J. Dielmann, one of the most successful and widely known architects in San Antonio and Southwest Texas, practiced architecture from 1902 until 1957 with a main office at 306 E. Commerce Street in San Antonio. He was also involved in many civic activities. Dielmann, born in San Antonio in 1881, was the son of J. C. Dielmann, a contractor and pioneer in the building and supply business who operated a wholesale and retail business in building materials in San Antonio. Dielmann attended St. Mary's College where family tradition relates he studied under Theodore Gentilz, a French artist of the late nineteenth century. He graduated in 1898 and then attended a school in Idstein, Germany where he studied Architecture and Architectural Engineering. When he returned to San Antonio, he established himself as an architect in his father's business and served as President of Dielmann Construction Company for many years. In 1909, he was appointed to the position of City Building Inspector and in 1913 he was elected alderman-at-large.

Dielmann designed numerous residences, commercial structures, and public buildings throughout Texas [see attached list of Dielmann's work]. In Seguin, he designed over twenty-five structures which included the store buildings of H. H. Heidecke and H. Krezdorn, both officers of the Park Hotel Company. Heidecke and Krezdorn were good friends of Dielmann and it was this friendship coupled with the widespread knowledge of Dielmann's architectural ability which prompted the Company to employ his talents to build the Park Hotel. Dielmann was a progressive man and was responsible for a great advance in architecture and public improvements in Texas.

The Park Hotel was built during a period of transition between the four to six-story commercial building and the modern skyscraper. In the Park Hotel, Dielmann combined the improvements in fireproofing, wind bracing and foundation technology with the skeleton frame, first used in Chicago in 1883 which made the construction of "tall" buildings feasible. The use of the steel skeleton did not arrive in San Antonio until 1906. Although the five-story Park Hotel was small in size compared to structures of twenty stories built in Chicago and the skeleton frame consisted of reinforced concrete instead of steel, the structure was an example of a new type of construction and it exhibited Chicago School characteristics. The building had a base consisting of two lower stories, a rectangular vertical shaft in which verticality was emphasized by the narrow windows, a flat roof and a terminating terra cotta cornice with geometric designs. The ornamentation was minimal with horizontal spandrels between the windows. The building also exhibited a curvilinear gable in the cornice characteristic of the Spanish Colonial Revival popular in San Antonio and with Dielmann during the early years of the twentieth century.

Since May 1915 Seguin had let building permits aggregate to the sum of almost $200,000 which seemed phenomenal progress for a city with a population of less than 5,000. The Guadalupe Gazette [March 24, 1916] editorialized that "literally and actually speaking, we are on the eve of building up a city out of a village." The people of Seguin felt they were on the verge of diverting San Antonio's large tourist trade to Seguin due to its location on the Guadalupe River. The necessity for a first-class hotel to accommodate the anticipated traffic to Seguin became greater in the minds of the businessmen. They felt the location of the hotel would indicate where the future development of the town would be.

Therefore, the race to develop the town began and activities became polarized between two hotel companies which were backed by two local banks owning property in different ends of town.

A group of prominent Seguin businessmen formed the Seguin Park Hotel Company during the latter part of 1915. The Company incorporated with assets totaling $40,000 and elected officers and directors. They included the following: H. A. Heidecke, President; James A. Harley, Secretary; and Walter Nolte, Treasurer. Herman A. Krezdorn was elected to the Board of Directors and the Building Committee. The Company employed Leo M. J. Dielmann, the San Antonio architect, to design an elegant, first-class hotel on the courthouse square [Sequin Enterprise, December 17, 1915].

Competition in hotel construction soon developed with the formation of another hotel company for the purpose of erecting a six-story, forty-room hotel on the northeast corner of Austin and Mountain Streets. The Chamber of Commerce called a special meeting to discuss the proposed erection of two new hotels and attempted to persuade the two companies to erect only one hotel and invest the money intended for the other hotel in another building which would be more beneficial to Seguin.

The Seguin Park Hotel Company accepted the bid of $40,000 for construction offered by Robert Uhr of San Antonio. Smylie of Seguin received the electrical contract, West and Gutzeit the plumbing contract and Otis Elevator Company would install the elevator.

Work on the Park Hotel broke ground first on March 17, 1916, and the Guadalupe Gazette boasted that "at least one of them [hotels] will be built; and that in the future Seguin may boast of having one of the finest hotels between Houston and San Antonio." The City Hotel Company hired the San Antonio architect Atlee B. Ayres and began construction soon afterward.

Mr. T. B. Baker leased the Park Hotel for a period of fifteen years beginning in March 1916. He also leased St. Anthony and Menger in San Antonio and the Connor in Joplin, Missouri. Mr. Baker possessed an enviable record as a hotel manager and was given the authority to purchase elegant furniture and fixtures for the hotel.

Citizen interest prompted detailed newspaper coverage of the hotel race during the following months. Both hotels offered similar attractions and conveniences from a quick lunch counter to a barber shop to a roof garden. Each hotel attempted to be as elaborate and modern as possible for the day and time.

The City Hotel later named the Aumont, which was a combination of the street names, Austin and Mountain, won the race and held its grand opening on November 22, 1916. Although the Park Hotel did not open until January 9, 1917, it seems that no expense was spared or excitement was diminished. Five hundred guests attended the reception to view the beautiful new hotel's parlors, and suites. and dining rooms and celebrate the prosperity Seguin seemed to be experiencing.

The management prepared an elegant menu and provided entertainment by The Imperial Mexican Orchestra from the St. Anthony Hotel in San Antonio in addition to a singer from New York. Seguin was praised for her public-spirited citizens that supported the opening of the Park Hotel. The management advertised in the Guadalupe Gazette on January 19, 1917, that the Park Hotel operated on the American Plan with rates at $2.75 and $3.00 per day and stated that guests were always welcome at the finest and most up-to-date little hotel in Texas.

The building boom in Seguin continued into 1917. Seguin became the envy of numerous small towns which felt that one of the biggest assets in community promotion was a hotel of the most modern and magnificent type. Seguin had one to spare.