Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, March 21, 1915, HOTEL CASTLE, Image 23

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    Omaha Sunday B
FART THREE
HOTEL CASTLE
PAGES ONE TO TEN
PART THREE
HOTEL CASTLE
PAGES ONE TO TEN
HE
EE
VOL. XL1V NO. 40.
OMAHA, SUNDAY MOHNIXO, MAKCH 21, 11)13.
sixnu: copies hvt, u:tk.
Hotel Ca&le, Omaha's- Latent "Home" for Travelers
XStfSr ifr-ftb-Mi '.Lllrba ifltl Tibial.
. Ttwf k n 1 felt -n 1 fe ri N' ii L. 1 i ' tu
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a MAN'S house is his castle."
j This has been a recognized princi-
" pie among civilized men for centuries.
1 In his home, which is his castle,
man is supreme and does as ha
pleases. Of course, the word "man" is used here
in its generic sense. And, no doubt, even in nis
"rastle" man, or most of "hlra" at any rate, must
do as his better half wishes.
But whether or no, the fact remains that .
"A man's house is his castle."
Now, how about the man who is away from
his home? Supposing that the man who is away
from his home is sojourning in Omaha, what
about him?
He is away from that home which is his "cas
tle." What shall he do for a temporary "castle?"
The answer to all this i3 very easy.
When the man is away from home then his
home, temporarily, is not his castle, but the Castle
is bis home.
Meaning, of course, the new Castle hotel, just
opened to the public on Sixteenth and Jones street,
west side of Sixteenth street, front facing east.
A hotel in which the "home" atmosphere pre
dominates is the new Castle. From the big, com
fortable lobby set with easy chairs and divans and
opening on the ladies' room, the restaurant and
cafe and other conveniences; from this inviting
place up through the various floors with their
roomy rooms, thick-carpeted, electric lighted, private-bathed
and Bell-telephoned there is every
where an abundance of the homely comforts.
The luxuries that mark such hotels as the
Rltz-Carltons are not included in the Castle. It
is a medium-priced hotel. A nice room with pri
vate bath may be had for $1.25 a day. The highest
priced room is only $2.
The new building is an ornament to .South
Sixteenth street. It is six stories high and has a
front of pressed tapestry brick of a brown shade.
The trimmings are of terra cotta.
A large "marquise" extends out over the side
walk at the main entrance, affording protection
from the weather to- persons arriving at or leaving
the hotel.
The main part of the hotel, it will be observed
by those who see it from the front, is six stories
high, while the so-called "annex," built at the same
time and having the same style and made of the
game materials, is only two stories high. The lat
ter has a frontage of fifty feet on Sixteenth street
while the main part of the hotel hag a frontage of
100 feet.
The ground floor fronts of the entire building
are given over to stores, excepting only that por
tion whih forms the main entrance to tbe hotel.
Four of these stores have direct connection to
the hotel. One is a restaurant, lunch counter antf
Distinguishing Features of the New Hotel Castle
TI1E HOTEL CASTLE Ms the , latest addition to
Omaha's invitation to the public to'stop over hero,
rest and enjoy a life whoso zest is unknown to
those who have not tested it. It does not pretend
to complete tJio list of reasons for visiting Omaha, but it is
a great factor in provision that is made for the comfort and
safety of the visitor. Six stories high, witli ample frontage
of two streets, of fireproof construction throughout, it is th
very latest word in tho matter of medium priced hotels.
By medium priced is meant that accommodations of tho
highest class wilt be furnished at a figure that is within tho
reach of tho pocketbook of the plain citizen. A room with
bath may bo had for $1.25 a day, or a better located and
bigger room can be had at the rate of $2. This is the basis
on which the Hotel Castle is organized and on which it will
be conducted. One hundred and fifty guest rooms are con
tained within tho building, and 100 of them are equipped
with private bath and similar accommodations of tho most
;modern type.
The hotel was built and furnished throughout by
Omaha firms. It is of modern construction, fireproof in
every particular, fitted with fast running elevators of the
latest design, and in all particulars is strictly high grade.
Its furnishing is substantial, and comfortable, even to tho
point of luxury in some particulars, and it has been planned
for the greater convenience of the sojourning patrons, Mr.
Castle having embodied in it many improvements suggested
by his long experience as a hotel man.
Dining room and restaurant aro accessible from the
lobby of tho hotel, as .well as from the st reet, an advantage
that is more real than apparent, l.ar, barber shop, news
stand, cigar stand, billiard room and all the conveniences
are readily reached from the spacious foyer.
In appointments, the greatest care luis been taken. For
example, the Hotel Castle is rat, mouso or vermin proof.
Cement floors from basement to top, metal fittings in
kitchen, closets and elsewhere, and similar arrangements,
make for cleanliness of the first order, with no place for the
pests of the housekeeper to find a lodgement. Fan ventila
tion is provided, and each bathroom is connected with an
air tube, by which the air is exhausted from tho room and
a fresh and healthy supply continually provided. Vacuum
cleaners aro also installed, so that tho annoyance of sweep
ing is entirely avoided.
The managing staff of tho hotel will lie made up of ex
perienced hotel and restaurant men and women, so that all
details of caring for the guests will be looked after in a most
acceptable way, and the little attentions that make for com
fort and welcome at a modern hotel will be unostentatiously
provided. Jl is Mr. Castle's aim to make his hotel seem like
home to his patrons.
cafe, which is the sole eating room of the hotel
and yet will cater to the general public as well as
to Castle guests. It has a front entrance from the
street and an entrance also directly from the hotel
lobby.
The bar is next to the cafe and has entrances
also from the street and from the lobby.
The first room south of the main entrance is
the barber shop with seven chairs and this has en
trances also from the Btreet and from the lobby.
Tho store room next to this is occupied by
candy emporium and has, besides Its street en
trance, a door leading directly Into the ladles'
rest room which is located off the hotel lobby.
Thus the Castle will draw patronage for these
(our enterprises not only from its own guests, but
also from the general public. It is a plan -that
seems so very simple that the only wonder is that
' hotels didn't adopt it long ago instead of shutting
these several species of enterprises off from the
outside world and forcing them to exist, at it
were, solely by the patronage of hotel guests.
A fact that made this old style of hiding away
restaurants and bars within hotels somewhere was
tbe fact that many of tbe guests didn't patronize
them under the European plan of operation, but
went out and ate elsewhere and drank elsewhere
and patronized other tonsoriai artists'.
Alighting from our limousine or jitney bus or
street car directly In front of the hotel, we enter
through the revolving doors and find ourselves in
a broad, long lobby.
The floor Is terrazza, the walls are frescoed In
eye-resting tints and there is abundance of white
marble. The baseboards are white marble, go are
the pillars and so are the stairways that laud down
.to the basement and up to the second floor.
At the opposite end from tbe entrance Is the
office, large and of quartered oak. Off to the
- right from this main desk is an enclosed room, the
private office of Manager Fred A. Castle.
The cigar and newsstand and the ladles' rest
room and the writing room are off to the south
side of tbe lobby.
Light is plentifully admitted through the win
dowa and through a stained glass skylight in the
center of the foyer.
Reed furniture, leathered-covered, Is used in
the main lobby. There are chairs of this material
and lounges, arranged in groups, looking very cozy
and home-like and inviting.
An elevator of the very latest Improved OHn
make runs from tbe basement to the top of the
building. It has slf-closlng doors, this being an
other feature that makes the Castle hotel the
"house of safety," as tho manager has named it.
There are ISO bedrooms, 100 being equipped
with private bath and all of them having toilet
and running hot and cold water.
The bedroom furniture Is of the mission type
and was all specially constructed to order for tho
Castle hotel.
Special attention was given to ,the beds, tho
management holding that a good bed is more im
portant than anything elRe In a hotel, with the ex
ception of cleanliness. The highest grade of de
luxe springs are placed on all the beds and the
mattresses are of extraordinarily fine quality. It
' in the proud boast of the manager that such sleep
ing facilities are not' found in any hotels except
the very highest and best typos.
Thick carpets cover every inch of floors in the
rooms and run along the long halls. The hall walU
are frescoed and the bedrooms are papered with
Kngllsh papers of small, neat designs In tbe very
lutest patterns.
Plate glass tops on dressers and desks are a
feature of the furnishing and there are other little
refinements like trunk racks and night tables.
On the second floor Is the convention hall or
ballroom. It can be used equally well for a con
vention or. meeting or for a ball. It is 50x80 feet
in size and occupies the second story of the "an
nex." A complete ventilating system of the fan type
Is Installed. Air tubes run to all bathrooms and
by means of the fan fresh air will be forced Into
every room and the exhausted air withdrawn in
accordance with the latest developments of the
science of ventilation.
Other pipes running through the walls lead
from each floor to the basement, where there Is a
vacuum cleaner of the latest make. All cleaning
will be do'ne by means of this dirt consumer.
The kitchen, located In the northwest corner
of the main floor, right back of the cafe, is one of
the most up-to-date and strictly sanitary to bo
found anywhere.
Tbe cement floors and the fact that the kitchen
furirishlngs are of metal and set up on legs several
Inches from the floor make it impossible for rats,
mice or other vermin to find a home tnere.
' Down In the basement rooms are fitted up
especially for tbe men, where they can lounge and
smoke and play cards or checkers or otherwise pass
their hours of leisure as men like to do.
The total cost of the Castle hotel building was
abut $200,000. This Is exclusive of roe value of
tbe land, which Is high, and of the cost of the fur
nishings and equipment.
"I will take mine ease In mine castle," said the
poet.
The Castle hotel is eminently fitted to permit a
man, or woman, to take his or her ease. It ha
all . the good, Bolld, "homey" comforts and is
ideally equipped to care for the business which It
aims to rare for; to give good, clean, comfortable
accommodations to the people and to supply also
good food and many of the luxuries which, la mod
ern life, are considered necessities.