Officials on Thursday held a grand opening for the Barfield Hotel in the historic Barfield building in downtown Amarillo, the first time the hotel had been open in three decades.
The Amarillo Chamber of Commerce and Center City of Amarillo hosted a ribbon-cutting at the site at 600 S. Polk St., according to the Amarillo Globe-News.
[T]he 10-story Barfield Hotel is a member of Marriott’s Autograph Collection. The facility has 112 rooms of what officials have previously called “West Texas Luxury,” incorporating leather and cow-hide touches within each room. The hotel also has a speakeasy club and a restaurant. […]
The hotel incorporates items and details from the original building, including the tile as well as the completely restored main lobby and its marble staircase.
The Amarillo chamber shot this short video of the ribbon cutting:
KFDA-TV in Amarillo had more details about the hotel’s reopening and its background:
Prohibitionist M.D. Oliver created The Barfield back in 1926, and despite her crusade against alcohol, had a speakeasy in the basement.
“We’re paying homage to M.D. Oliver,” explained Michael Farr, The Barfield’s director of sales and marketing. “She was a crusader against alcohol, yet she knew where the revenue came from so she had the Paramount Recreation Club, the speakeasy. It’s very important [Amarillo residents] have this in their back packet. Another historical part that were bringing back to life for everyone to enjoy.”
To pay homage, The Barfield preserves the original speakeasy room and renovated it to modern luxury standards.
“We want to give homage back to the 1920′s. It would be a poor design choice not to,” said Patrick Dougherty, The Barfield general manager. “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.”
The station reported the Barfield’s restaurant, speakeasy and bourbon bar are open to everyone, even to those who are not staying at the hotel.
The Barfield, which was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2020, 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, undertook about $20 million in renovations on the building.
(Image of the annual Coors Cowboy Club Cattle Drive in front of the Barfield Hotel in Amarillo via Facebook)
Cool!