Omaha Exploration

In the next of a multi-part series, we’ll explore the history of buildings that sit along the streetcar route and get acquainted with the businesses being impacted by its ongoing construction.

Located on the southwest corner of 14th and Farnam Streets, across from the newly rising Mutual of Omaha Headquarters Tower, is an Art Deco structure that was once one of the city’s grandest hotels: The Paxton. 

Named for William A. Paxton, who helped raise the money to complete the original Paxton Hotel when it constructed in 1882. During his distinguished career, Paxton helped found the Omaha and Northwestern Railroad, Paxton & Gallagher wholesale grocery, Paxton & Vierling Iron Works, as well as the South Omaha Stockyards.

Before it was razed in 1927, the original Paxton Hotel hosted notable guests, including Presidents William McKinley, Theodore Roosevelt, and Woodrow Wilson, as well as “Buffalo” Bill Cody and William Jennings Bryan, among others. It was also the site of the founding of the Woodmen of the World Life Insurance Society.

Like the original, the New Paxton Hotel was built by the Kitchen Brothers Hotel Company and operated by Ralph and Dick Kitchen. The 11-story hotel was designed by architect Joseph G. McArthur in the Art Deco style. McArthur’s other projects included the Medical Arts Building at 17th and Dodge and the Redick Tower (present-day Hotel Deco) at 15th and Harney. Constructed by Selden-Breck, The Paxton was built with brick and concrete and featured a facade of terra cotta and Bedford stone.

Located at 1403 Farnam Street, the 325-room hotel opened in 1929, at which point an editorial in the Omaha World-Herald declared it “the finest hotel of its size in the country, New York not excepted.” The hotel featured four dining rooms, a ballroom, a tearoom, a cafeteria, a coffee shop, a barbershop, as well as elevator, telegraph, and cable services, and steam-heated dog kennels on the rooftop. The modern hotel was built with conventions in mind, as it could accommodate more than 1,000 people spread across its dining rooms and the ballroom. In addition to its guest rooms, the hotel included office space and ground-floor retail. Among its original tenants were Walgreen’s Drug, Leon’s Inc., a local haberdasher chain, Ye Diamond Shoppe, and Henderson Florist.

When Ralph Kitchen, who also managed the original hotel, retired in 1930, he sold it to the Oklahoma City-based Huckins Hotel Company in what was referred to as Omaha’s largest real estate deal ever. The hotel was sold again in 1939, this time to the National Hotel Company of Galveston.

The hotel retained its status and became a popular stay for wealthy cattlemen visiting the stockyards as it grew to be the largest in the world. Some of the more notable events included its in-house band, the Paul Moorhead Orchestra, being featured in national radio broadcasts starting in the 1930s, the founding of the Nebraska Women’s Press Club in 1946, and hosting the teams participating in the city’s first College World Series in 1950.

The Paxton closed as a hotel in 1964 and served as the home to the Women’s Job Corps until 1969 when it was sold. After suggestions of converting the building to low-income apartments, it reopened as a Mediterranean-themed hotel in 1971, following renovations that included the lobby, ballroom, cocktail lounge, and guest rooms.

The building closed for good as a hotel in 1975, at which point it was converted to the Paxton Manor, a senior housing facility that included a nondenominational chapel and a second-floor recreation area. By the mid-1990s, it also included facilities for those living with mental illness. Due to financial troubles, the building fell into disrepair, and the facility closed in 2000. Fearing that the building would be razed, many of the fixtures and other items were sold at auction.

Shamrock Development bought the former hotel in 2003, and with the help of Lund-Ross Constructors and RDG, completed a historic renovation. The project consisted of restoring the original two-story lobby and ballroom, cleaning the exterior brick, restoring the original granite and marble walls, and terrazzo tile floors, in addition to repairing the molded ceilings. In the process, Shamrock also recovered many of the original fixtures, including a brass mailbox, lamp, mirror, and 23 copper and stipple glass windows.

When it reopened as The Paxton in 2004, the renovated building included new commercial space on the ground floor, offices on the second floor, and 56 condos and two penthouses. Among its amenities are a fitness room, home theater, and rooftop deck. A new parking garage was also included as part of the project.

While its days as one of the city’s most glamorous hotels are long past, the careful restoration of The Paxton for use as condos more than 20 years ago ensured that one of its finest examples of Art Deco architecture lives on.

Located on the main level are three restaurants:

Omaha Tap House is locally owned restaurant that opened in 2012 and offers craft burgers and beers. The Paxton location is one of two in Omaha. 

Gandoflo’s NY Deli is a chain that opened its first Omaha location in 2005. It offers deli sandwiches, pizza, hot dogs and breakfast items. Its downtown location opened in 2020 and is one of three in Omaha. 

801 Chophouse is fine dining steakhouse chain that replaced the former Paxton Chop House in 2008. Its only Omaha location also offers chops, chicken and shellfish. 

Sources

• Omaha World-Herald archives
• Omaha Bee archives
• Paxton Hotel – Wikipedia
• Joseph G. McArthur (1887-1934), Architect – E Nebraska History
• The_Paxton_Building_Profile.pdf
• The Paxton — Lund-Ross Constructors
• Portfolio | Shamrock Development Incorporated