Then: When the Allis Hotel was completed in 1930, its 17 stories made it the tallest building in Kansas.

With a few loud bangs and a gigantic dust cloud, explosives reduced the Allis Hotel to a pile of rubble. That was Sunday morning, Dec. 23, 1996.

On the eighth anniversary of the event, there will be regrets and recollections, but no celebrations. There will be thoughts of what might have been, if ...
At least, the site of the Allis Hotel is greenspace and it didn’t become just another downtown asphalt parking lot.

When the Allis Hotel was completed in 1930, its 17 stories made it the tallest building in Kansas, and it remained so for many years. The Allis’s art deco design was patterned after New York City’s Waldorf-Astoria, and the Allis was considered Kansas’s finest hotel.
After closing in 1984, the structure deteriorated and was vandalized. By the early 1990s, its preservation was the subject of controversy. To some, the structure was Wichita’s tallest eyesore, and they nicknamed it “Kansas’s Largest Pigeon Coop.” To others, it was “The Grand Old Lady of Broadway” and merited saving.
 
Most members of HPA worked hard in an attempt to save it. There were editorials, fund raisers, law suits, rallies, and City Council hearings.
Nevertheless, in September 1996 the City Council, in a divided vote, elected to implode the hotel. Last minute efforts to stop demolition failed, and the fate of the Allis was sealed.
So, we have a pretty patch of greenspace.

NOW: The site of the Allis Hotel is greenspace in downtown Wichita (Photo credit: D&V Churchman, 2004)

10/14/05