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ROOMS
WITH A PAST - TEXAS HOTELS BUILT BEFORE 1950 :
Architect:
Leo M.J. Deilmann 1916
by John Troesser
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Seguin
Hotels
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The
Park / Plaza Hotel and the Hanging Tree
c1935
Old postcard TE Archives |
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The
Plaza Hotel today
TE photo, 2000 |
Seguin
has two excellent examples of small town hotels, as well as their
beautiful Texas Theater. The other hotel in Seguin, the
Aumont can be seen by clicking here for Rooms
with a Past No. 5. The Grand Central is still standing
but no longer in use as a hotel.
The Park Hotel (which later became the Plaza) was to
be built by M. J. Dielman of San
Antonio. Dielman was born in Germany and was more experienced
designing churches, although he had done commercial and residential
work before. From 1909 to 1912 he had been the Building Inspector
of San Antonio.
Dielman also owned a brick yard or two and furnished material for
other Seguin businesses.
The Park, costing $75,000, opened on January 9, 1917.
Like many of the hotels built during this period, retail businesses
and concessions were always included in the design. They provided
the hotel with a steady, constant cash flow and always had two entrances.
One was open to the street and one opened into the hotel's lobby.
In the Plaza's case - the hotel lobby's entrance facing the courthouse
was actually the secondary entrance.
Today, 6 or 8 businesses occupy the Plaza. The elegant lobby
of delicate chicken-wire tile and marble contains many old photos
of Seguin
and the Hotel in its prime.
The Plaza was once the Seguin Hospital (from 1927 to 1930).
When it once again became a hotel, its name was changed to the Plaza.
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The
Hanging Tree
Shown in the top postcard is a tall tree on the southwest corner of
the property. Remember hearing "they hung him from the nearest tree"?
Well, this was the nearest tree. Between the courthouse
and the morgue was a convenient location, you'll have to admit.
The Plaza also once served as a dormitory for boys for the Texas Lutheran
College, but we found no dates. |
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View
from the Mezzanine
TE photo |
The
Interior
In the lobby with the framed photos are four small signs that once
had four clocks above them. The signs read: New York, London, Seguin
and DeQueeny (Guadalupe County humor).
After the mezzanine, the steps going up change from marble to cement.
The roof that was once used for dancing "under the stars" once sported
one of those metal signs that added a touch of ugliness to nearly
every hotel in the state. |
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The
architectural details of the Plaza are actually cast cement instead
of terra cotta or plaster.
TE photo |
The
Plaza is only a short distance from Sebastopol, one of the first structures
in Texas to be made from poured concrete (limecrete). Sebastopol
is a State Historic Site and is found on Seguin's driving tour.
Website: http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/park/sebastop/sebastop.htm
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More
information, on the Plaza Hotel can be found by clicking here for
Seguin Hotel Wars.
We were fortunate to be directed to Seguinite
Cliftine Dwyer
who had grown up in both the Plaza and the rival Aumont.
Growing up in a hotel is interesting, but growing up in the 2 best
hotels in town is surely an unusual experience, even for Texas.
For her story, see "Eloise"
in Texas .
And so, in the lilting tenor voice of the narrators from travelogues
of long ago, we bid adieu to the Plaza Hotel of Seguin,
on the beautiful banks of Walnut Creek, home of the Matadors and the
World's Biggest Pecan.
© John Troesser
See Seguin,
Texas
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Seguin
Hotels |
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