An Amarillo television station filed an exclusive report about what’s to come inside the historic Barfield Hotel when it’s scheduled to open in April.
KDFA-TV filed the report. Here are a couple of the excerpts:
All rooms preserve the original 1920′s decor, with special nods to Barfield creator, M.D. Oliver.
“We want to give homage back to 1927. It would be a poor design choice not to,” explained Dougherty. “M.D. Oliver was fully against liquor, but had a speakeasy. The Chicago mob came down here and tried to take her out multiple times…so she carried a gun, a Daranger gun in her purse, and actually throughout the hotel you’ll see that sprinkled in. We’ll have bullet holes (and) we’ll have guns crossed. We’re going back to this M.D. Oliver, the matriarch of progress, which is our mark. She’ll be throughout the hotel.” […]
“Route 66 has so many attractions, but not a lot of lodging. So this is exciting because this is going to give us just a showpiece of lodging on Route 66,” said Duke. “This is making downtown truly a destination, and that’s our long range goal – to make downtown a destination so people come, spend the night, spend some dollars, and really enjoy everything Amarillo has to offer.”
The station’s video won’t allow embedding; you can view it here.
Among the hotel’s interesting features:
- A tavern in the basement, complete with secret rooms and passwords to enter — a throwback to its Prohibition-era speakeasy days.
- An Italian steakhouse.
- A total of 96 specialty designed king rooms, 16 doubles and two expanded suits with parlor rooms. All rooms come with custom furniture, free Netflix streaming and valet service.
The Barfield, which was added to the National Register of Historic Places a year ago, sits along Polk Street and Sixth Street (aka Route 66) in the downtown area.
Tulsa-based Coury Hospitality, which also runs the historically significant Colcord Hotel in Oklahoma City and Ambassador Tulsa, is completing about $20 million in renovations on the building as a Marriott hotel. The Barfield Building had been closed for about 25 years. The 10-story structure was built in 1925.
(Artist’s rendering of the Barfield Hotel in Amarillo, Texas, via Facebook)