THE OMAHA SUNDAY BEE: NOVEMBER 26, 1918.
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How the Floors of the Blackstone Were Planned for Family Use
The Blsckstone hotel Is shaped Ilk
a huge "E," with the main entrance
In the center. There'! a big. wide
porch, retched after a walk through
the tall sheltering maples, which break
the rays of the hot sun in the summer
and "head off some of the cold In
the winter time.
Once through the tiled vestibule, the
visitor finds himself in the entrance
corridor, with a big roomy writing
room on his right, while on the left
there is a reception room large enough
for halt a dosen different sets of vis
itors to assemble without one party In
terfering with another one. ' '
But this first view of the Interior
does not give the Impression of a
hotel. It creates the Impression of a
magnificent private home the home
of a well-bred, wealthy man who has
had unlimited funds with which to
furnish his palace in exquisite taste.
There is no hotel offloe. In sight
There's a manager's private room
down the corridor a little ways from
the vestibule and In the room, as if
there only momentarily, Is a young
lady. Residents of the hotel will pass
on; il a stranger attempts to pass Into
the main lobby, a quiet signal Is given
by some one, some where, and the
stranger Is very quickly and very po
litely given an opportunity of stating
Ma business. If he really wants to find
the office of the building, he will have
to hunt for IL And when he finds It,
It is behind a pair of handsome French
doors at the far end of the lounging
room. This la all In keeping with tne
efforts of the management to remove
from sight every evidence of hotel life
and to create the Impression of a
' quiet, luxurious home.
Lobby and Elevators.
And that main lobby. To begin
with, it is ten feet wide and forty-
four feet long. At the far end are the
passenger elevators two of them.
They are not the usual "apartment
, house" elevators of the kind called
"automatic," but which make the resi
dents Into elevator boys. They are
regular elevators, with uniformed con
ductors. And they run all day and all
night
But the lobby is not like a long hall,
with straight severe, lines, similar to
- the hallway of an office building. Once
past the writing room on the right
and the reception room on the left the
lobby broadens out into a great hand
some lounging room, twenty feet wide
' in part, and fifty feet yes, fifty wide
in its major portion. Big enough to
hold a national convention in, almost
But not like a convention hall. It is
filled with the things that make for
comfort and rest It's a meeting place,
,a talking place, a loafing place. If you
'please, for the residents of the bote)
and for their frienda.
Go through those French doors
down at the north end of the loung
ing room. That's the -main dining
room. It Je forty feet wide and sixty
feet long. There are just fifteen big
. light windows on the three sides of
the room that are open. And then
there are the two private dining
rooms, one ten feet by fourteen and
the other fourteen by twenty-eight
These are for the many uses found in
a family hotel for dining rooms of
these stses Each one hat the same
The Blackstone Ball Boom, toils If t-n '" r, "jOOsSSw'' " WKV'lifS?dsX
XIV Style of Decorations. HI Jflm' I i 4 x ' r '
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41
light wholesomeness found in the main
dining room Itself.
And just to the west of the dining
rooms, close enough for good service,
far enough removed to prevent any
odors, Is the kitchen a regular dream
of a kitchen. On the darkest Decem
ber day (hat Blackstone kitchen will
be light The description? None but
an expert hotel cook could describe
It; could tell the use of the thousand-
ana-one things that are contained In
that kitchen. Come and see it for your
sen. tou u dream- of It, If you do.
The remaining half, the south half,
of the main floor, la given over to one
and two-room apartments.
A One-Room House,
A one-room apartment doesn't
"sound" very large. But In the Black
stone, things are different First you
have no need of a dining room. That
stretches that one room Into two. Seo
ondly, you do no cooking at tbt Black
stone, and that makes three rooms of
your one room. The Blackstone it a
hotel, not an apartment bouse. You
want a reception room, of course, but
there are nothing finer, anywhere,
than the party rooms and lounging
rooms of the Blackstone and they
all go with the hotel service; they are
for the use of the residents tnd there
Is no extra charges for the service. Bo,
a reception room Is not a necessity.
And the one room has expanded Into
four. A "living" room is a necessity,,
nowever, ana so is a bedroom. But In
the Blackstone, the one-room apart
ment Is furnished as a living room
and the bed, when It it wanted, springs
out of a bed-closet, or comes right out
of the wall. An4 when you art through
with It, It disappears again. A Black-
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A Glimpse at the' Interior of the Central Roof Garden, Which It Enclosed
and Heated During the Winter Months.
private bathroom; '
And clothes closets? If there is any
one thing the Blackstone people pride
themselves upon, it is the closet serv
ice. Every room In the house haa a
closet and many of them have two
and three closets. Nothing is in sight
that is not wanted in sight Put the
bootjack in the closets. That's-where
It belongs.
Take Apartment number 106, for In-
large windows. All day long, In the
cold winter, the warm sun shines on
this room, while In the summer the
striped awnings and the seven open
windows render the room cool and
pleasant The living' room of this
suite haa a closet four feet deep and
ten. feet long. There It a disappearing
bed not a foldlng-up bed and the
very neatest of white-tiled bathrooms.
And there are French doors leading
The Main Dining Boom of the Blackstone.
stone tingle-room apartment It a liv
ing room by day and a bedroom by
night By this arrangement and with
the aid of the service furnished by the
hotel, the one-room apartment has now
become so large that it furnishes five
room accommodations. Blackstone res
idents do not need servants, since all
maid's work and chamberwork Is per
formed by hotel employes. This saves a
maid's room and the one-room apart
ment has been enlarged into six
rooms. Each apartment, whether of
one, two or. six rooms, has Us owe
stance. It is a one-room apartment out int the sun-room. You can't
oeai u ; 11 can t do oeaien.
These Blackstone hotel rooms are
not like other rooms. Those who have
been trained, by the- modern apart
ment house, to judge other rooms by
the apartment measure, will be very
much surprised when they see the
size and convenience of the Black
stone rooms.
Spacious Rooms. ,.
The Bankers Realty Investment
company, in designing this beautiful
building for the owner acted on the
belief that the modern city man
is growing weary of the little box-like
rooms into wHich the builders- of
apartment houses are dividing their
buildings. . Instead of attempting to
make their rooms as small as possible,
the Blackstone builders took the op
posite course and made the rooms just
as large as they could. Room 113 is
twenty-one feet seven inches long and
twelve feet, five Inches wide. Not all
the rooms are that sue; some era.
smaller; out some are larger, too: The
on the first floor. There are four win
dows, insuring light and air. Steam
raolatlon insures warmth in the win
ter. The tile bathroom has hot and
cold water, and there is a big thermos
jug which a house maid will keep
filled with Ice water all the year
round. There are two closets big
closets, not little bandboxes. And there
are two nooks, each with a convenient
seat. The bed disappears Into a double
doored closet, and there is a beveled
French-plate mirror In each of the
doors. Properly furnished and rein
forced by the hotel's dining room,
kitchen, reception room, maids' room,
"loafing" room and other conven
iences, two people can live on the fat
of the land In Apartment 106.
Two-room apartments are made by
adding a library or a sun room to the
single-room homes. Suite 112-113 is
one of the latter kind. In addition to
the living- room, there Is the sun
room, a fine room ten feet by fourteen
feet, with red tile flooring and seven
second, third and fourth floors havtj
Identical arangements and very large
ly, the one- and two-room apartments
are confined to these floors. However,
there are some two or three three
room suites on each of these floors
while on the fifth, sixth and seventh
floors, which are Identical with one
another and contain the larger suites,
there are a few of the smaller apart
ments. And these upper floors the fifth,
sixth and seventh certainly contain
"some" suites. Here is one with five
rooms, six closets, a bath, -a fire-place
and mantel, private hall, fifteen win
dows. With the hotel service, which
furnishes the dining room, kitchen, re
ception rooms, ball rooms, roof gar
dens, .blllard parlor, maids, servants,
telephones, etc., could one use more
space? Yes. Well, in that caie, on the
same floor there is a suite of six
rooms, Including a sun coom. Want
still more space? Yea. Then take
thlr. seven-room suite consisting of
living room, library, sun-room, four
bed rooms, bath room, and all sorts of
closets.
But come up one story higher up
on the eighth floor. That's where
are the three roof cardens. the bier
banquet and dancing rooms, the party
rooms, lounging rooms, soda fountain,
and things of that kind and the finest
view in all Omaha. The eighth story
of the Blackstone is three stories
higher than the tallest office building
down In town. The Blackstone is on-
top of a high hill, you know.
Playground On Top.
The eighth floor Is a Dlav-trround of
the Blackstone. Perhaps, if you are
a resident of the hotel, you have -a
single room, or a two-room apartment
ii tnat oe the case, here Is where vou
will take your recreation. When you
wish to sleep, or to get off by your
self, as sometimes you will, you will
remain In your rooms. But when you
want to meet your friends, when you
crave society, when you want to see
people, when yon want to have a good
time, you will take one of the eleva
tors and run up to the eighth floor.
It lt'a winter, the glass sides will be
closed, the steam will be turned on,
the flowers will be blooming and you
can stand In a warm, comfortable cor
ner and look out over the snow-buried
world. You can see far bevond Flor-
ence to the north, and the bluffs of the
east side of the Missouri are In eight
for nearly forty miles. Child's Point
Sarpy county, and the country to the
south Is all within your view. West
ward, the plains of Nebraska, snow
covered, will stretch as far as you can
see.
But you need not care. The Black
stone Is a city within itself. You can
eat drink and be merrv: vou can
dance, play and enjoy yourself.
ror me summer, the Blackstone
roof gardens are the coolest places in
Omaha. There are three of the gar
dens. AU have the pergola effect and
all are covered with vines and flowers
Each of the three Is forty feet wide,
facing the east. The north and south
gardens are each fifty feet long, while
the center garden Is thirty feet long.
The big ball room which is turned
into a banquet hall, seating 260 people
upon occasions is on this top floor.
It Is undoubtedly the finest ball room
(Continued on Page 4 B.)
.. ,', J JU..W1 uii'wmi aijas.ii..'.,;i jv-w Lie-
The Carpetmgs for the Blackstone Hotel
Were Made Exclusively by the
Bigelow-Hartford Carpet Company
' ' The furnishing required 9,600 yards of the following well known fabrics:
"HARTFORD-SAXONY" RUGS, BIGELOW LOWELL WILTON 'CARPET,
BIGELOW AXMINSTER CARPET, LOWELL AXMINSTER CARPET
BIGELOW-HARTFORD FLOOR COVERINGS,on account of quality, designs and colorings, have been recog
nized as the leading HOTEL CARPETS for almost a century. For standing the hardest wear for the longest period of
time, and retaining in the.fullest measure their original beauty, they stand supreme. Over 300 of the leading hotels in .
! ' ( the United States are satisfied users of BIGELOW-HARTFORD CARPETS, and have given them their unqualified
. . endorsement for superiority. The floor covering fabrics that will stand the test of hard service in public buildings and
conveyances will readily commend themselves to the housekeeper for home use. All first-class dealers sell "BIGELOW
HARTFORD" fabrics. t V
BIGELOW-HARTFORD CARPET CO;
ESTABLISHED 1825.
New York Office: 25 Madison Avenue. Chicago Office: 14 E. Jackson Boulevard. Boston Office: 69 Summer Street.
San Francisco Office: 770 Mission Street. Portland Office: 107 Stark Street. Kansas City Office: 25 E. 12th St.
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