Maplewood Hotel

The Maplewood Hotel consists of two parcels - 330 Maple Street, a Tudor Revival style townhouse, and 328 Maple Street, the Romanesque Revival style hotel proper. These two Structures, built within 10 years of each other have, been interconnected in use and ownership since the 1920's. Fronting on a parklike square and occupying a prominent corner location, they form an important anchor in the cityscape and mark the transition from Holyoke's business district to the substantial late 19th century residential neighborhood lying to the west. 328 Maple Street: The Maplewood Hotel Romanesque Revival in design, the Hotel is H shaped in plan, stands 4½ stories on Maple Street and due to a rise in the terrain comes to a full 5 stories on Essex Street.

Contributing to its prominent statureare the structure's two major facades: the comm- ercial one fronting on Essex Street defined by its handsome stone arched and recessed entrances and the hotel's main entry on Maple Street highlighted by decorative arched and paneled window surrounds as well as by a turret on the eastern corner. A number of distinctive architectural elements lend the building much dignity. One such feature is its pressed metal cornice which sits on a brick frieze into which are inserted intermittenly square stucco panels. Both rest on brick corbelling that is cantilevered out five courses.

An additional ornamental detail of note, located on the building's corners, are pressed metal spirals that extend from the fourth story and terminate in a hemispheric cap at the roofline. IT." The Maple, Street facade, which is. 5 bays, serves as the main entrance to the building. An ascending external stairway of brick and sandstone leads to a small canopied shed- roofed entry that is supported by wooden columns with floral capitals and a dentil frieze board.

/Architect Frank Beebe Statement of Significance (in one paragraph) The Maplewood Hotel and the adjoining Tudor Revival style townhouse stand prominently in a late 19th century urban neighborhood whose focus is a Victorian park-like square. The significance of these two buildings is strongly tied to their long standing phéta thrope use or disnanty enanin ddyia bnadine laple ind i1 tapostant tot basnto the earliest residential hotel in the city. Retaining integrity of location, design, materials, workmanship, and association, the Maplewood Hotel Buildings meet criteria A, B, and C of the National Register of Historic Places.

Constructed in 1889-1890 by Frank Beebe, the Hotel was the first of its kind to be constructed in the city and reflected the unprecedented economic expansion of the 1880's which generated a population able to support a first-class facility of this kind. The builder, woolen manufacturer Frank Beebe, followed a common pattern by investing in con- struction and becoming a resident landlord. He was far more well-to-do than most builder- landlords, however, and his Maplewood Hotel was an impressive addition to the city.

An 1895 publication describes it as follows: The Maplewood illustrates the perfection attained in the preparation of homes for people who want a home feeling without the care 'attending it': Here are suites of apartments, large and small, furnished or unfurnished, and in the same building an excellent dining room is kept. The elevator communicates with every floor, the building overlooks Athletic Park (now Library Park) and its site on Maple Street cannot be surpassed by any in the city.... (The building) is one of the handsomest in the city of brick with brown stone trimming, and has sixty rooms, and was the first of this style in the city. --Holyoke, Past and Present, 1745-1895, L.L. Johnson, Transcript Publishing Co., pp. 137-139.