A tour of the Campbell Hotel

Recently, the owners of the Campbell Hotel along Route 66 in Tulsa offered me and Emily (aka Redforkhippie) a tour of the historic building. Last week, we took them up on their offer.

We had toured the hotel in May during the Tulsa’s annual Designer Showcase. However, that was when the hotel was dolled up to impossible extremes. We wanted to see the Campbell after it opened for business in mid-July.

Max Campbell built the hotel in 1927 as the Casa Loma Hotel with a 36 guest rooms on its second floor and a variety of businesses on the ground floor. Group M Investment in Tulsa purchased the building in 2008 and undertook a painstaking restoration. The building, now with 26 guest rooms, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Here’s the main lobby of the motel from its south entrance. That’s one of the hotel’s owners, Barbara Casey, chatting with the desk clerk. Aaron Meek (not pictured), a co-owner and a contractor who oversaw much of the building’s restoration, also accompanied us.

This is a close-up of one of the chandeliers. Take note of the original tin ceiling:

These comfy-looking chairs and sofas sit near the front desk.

Casey and Meek told us the hotel is completely up to modern codes, but they were fond of repurposing old things, such as these double doors near the elevator.

This bathroom near the front desk, for example, contains photos of Tulsa’s Art Deco buildings.

On the east side of the building’s first floor is the SpaMax spa that will open Nov. 8. Here’s where you can get manicures, pedicures, massages, and the like.

We also thought the spa’s lighting fixtures were ultra-cool.

Next to the spa is a gift shop.

One of the gifts for sale is a Campbell Hotel monogrammed bathrobe, made of soft rayon fashioned from bamboo.

The shop, as expected, offers a few Route 66 items:

On the second floor, the first of the many uniquely themed rooms that Casey and Meek showed us was the Leon Russell Room.

The internationally acclaimed songwriter and performer was born in Lawton, Okla., but grew up in and lived for many years in Tulsa. This painting of him is a prominent part of the room.

These shimmering decorative pillows feature lyrics from his most famous tune, “A Song for You”:

The Leon Russell Room’s bathroom also contains framed sheet music on the walls …

… and a poster from when a Tulsa street was dedicated in Russell’s honor last year:

This is the room’s bathtub. It should be noted that many of the tubs, such as this, are originals to the hotel. So is the tile.

We especially liked the light fixtures in the room, which added a near-psychedelic quality:

Before heading into the next themed room, we noted that the hallways had an old-school atmosphere about them.

The lighting fixtures provided some of the old vibe …

… so did the transoms above the doors.

But much of the old feel came from the charmingly creaky wooden floors, which are original but took much sanding and refinishing. Many of the rooms contain the old-forest pine flooring as well.

Next was the Route 66 Room.

This room contains a lot of decor inspired by the Mother Road.

This is the Lunar Eclipse Room, because of its high-contrast colors. It also happens to be compliant to Americans with Disabilities Act standards.

Another striking room is the Gilcrease Room, inspired by American Indian art and furnishings.

The Gilcrease Room also boasts this view of downtown Tulsa, looking west:

Here is the Tulsa Gardens Room:

The Renaissance Room, also known as the honeymoon suite, is in a part of the building that has a raised cupola roof. As a result, the ceilings are very tall.

This is the TU Room, or University of Tulsa.

Sooners fans can also use a University of Oklahoma Room, too:

The Equestrian Room, naturally, takes on a horse theme:

One of the last guest rooms we saw was the Bama Suite, named after the Bama Companies down the street. Bama supplies restaurants all over with pies and biscuits. Bama started in the early 1920s in Tulsa, a few years before Max Campbell built his hotel.

The second floor also contains this meeting room:

Take a close look at the walls. That is the original color scheme. Unlike other rooms in the Campbell Hotel, it didn’t need new drywall or new paint because dozens of old doors were stacked in the room.

The doors served as an obstruction that kept vandals from damaging the walls. So this multicolored appearance you see is the same as when the hotel was built.

During the tour, Casey and Meek regaled us with stories about the things they found during the renovation — old newspapers, military dogtags, unused condoms still in their metal casings.

Meek even found old wallboard where a pay phone once hung — with four-digit phone numbers scribbled on the plaster. Meek took down that wall and has it stored for safekeeping.

Finally, on the ground floor is the events center, which can be rented for parties and business conferences.

The Campbell Hotel still has parts of its east and west ends on the ground floor waiting to be developed. Meek and Casey say a sandwich and/or pizza restaurant will probably be built on the east end, and a diner on the west.

“We want the Metro Diner,” Casey said, referring to the 1950s-themed restaurant on Route 66 that was torn down a few years ago to make way for a University of Tulsa expansion. Casey even owns the Internet domain name for the Metro Diner.

Meek is much less committed to a strict re-creation of the Metro. “I want it to be as cool as the Metro Diner, but not the same,” he said.

It was obvious that the ultimate design of the diner remains unsettled, and is probably at least a year or two away from being built.

All told, we toured the hotel for nearly 2 1/2 hours. And there’s more we didn’t see, because several guest rooms were being used that night.

My take: It’s one of the best preservation and restoration projects I’ve seen, and I’ve seen a lot of great ones on Route 66 in the past decade. The hotel oozes a nostalgic feel, which is ideal for Route 66 travelers. And the uniqueness of each room scores a lot of creativity points. Best of all, the Campbell Hotel didn’t skimp on modern-day amenities, including high-def televisions and Wi-Fi (list of amenities is here).

The closest hotel I can think of that compares to the Campbell Hotel is La Posada in Winslow, Ariz. And that’s high praise indeed.