Oklahoma City’s First Grand Hotel

In 1909, oilman Bill Skirvin thought Oklahoma City needed a grand hotel.

He hired the architect Solomon Layton and built two wings of the ten-story Skirvin Hotel on lots south of the Frisco Depot on 2nd Street. In the 1920s, he added a third wing and topped it with more floors, including the Venetian Room. Then came the Great Depression, urban renewal and a banking crisis. The Skirvin closed in 1986.

In 1999, Mayor Kirk Humphreys thought Oklahoma City needed another grand hotel. With city support and historic tax credits, the restored Skirvin opened to national acclaim in 2007.

– Dr. Bob Blackburn, Oklahoma History Center