Historic Properties Reuse Study of the Anderson ... - City of Wabasha

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Tourism Issues Located on the banks of the Mississippi River at the foot of Lake Pepin, and surrounded by high wooded bluffs populated by soaring bald eagles, Wabasha enjoys a breathtaking natural setting. The community has always been a stopping point for travelers. The first visitors arrived by steamboat, later arrivals came by train, and most recently tourists come by automobile, turning their cars off the scenic Great River Road to enjoy the attractions of this historic community. The city website offers a great deal of information for tourists, and the city has provided some amenities intended to serve visitors, including a marina and a city park with camping spots at the north end of Main Street. The community is also served by a scenic golf course, a downhill ski area, and a privately operated marina. Wabasha is located between Red Wing and Winona, within easy driving distance of the Twin Cities and Rochester. For many years, the surrounding area has supported a number of tourist-oriented hospitality businesses, including the historic Hubbell House Restaurant in Mantorville, the St. James Hotel in Red Wing, and the Harbor View Restaurant across the river in Pepin Wisconsin. The Great River Road and a network of roads through the river bluffs provide ideal routes for bicycling enthusiasts. The local bicycle club has more than 150 members. An important new draw for tourists in recent years has been the Eagle Center, which brings in an estimated 100,000 visitors per year. Anderson House Reuse Study 12
Hospitality Issues The Hurd/Anderson House was operated exclusively as a hotel and restaurant for more than 150 years. Despite this continuity, however, the nature of the Anderson House’s business has changed over the years. In its earliest iteration the hotel provided basic food and lodging for travelers on the river. In later years, the hotel served commercial travelers who arrived in Wabasha by rail. A spacious sample room provided a venue for salespeople to display their wares and do business for a few days. The hotel’s fortunes waned in the post World War II years, as travelers of all types took to the highways, seeking accommodations in “motor hotels” designed specifically for cars. The Anderson House hit a low point in the early 1960s, when it became essentially a refuge for the down-and-out and the transient. The business suffered from poor management in the early 1970s, then enjoyed a renaissance later in the decade when the family of former owners acquired the property and reinvented it as a boutique hotel/bed and breakfast, famous for its home cooking, specialty baking, and cats. Despite very modest fees for overnight stays, the Anderson House hotel operated with an average occupancy rate of only ten to twenty percent. One interviewee suggested that the hotel operation might work best as a seasonal enterprise. According to one interviewee, the restaurant accounted for ninety percent of the business, with a huge majority of diners coming from outside Wabasha. In recent years, operators of the hotel worked hard to make improvements that would provide amenities expected by recreational travelers. Some of these improvements appear to have been completed piecemeal and on modest budgets. Efforts to provide bathrooms in every guest room, for example seem improvised, with facilities placed on platforms in cramped, awkward spaces. Carpets are worn and rumpled, upstairs hallways have suspended ceilings and many other interior features are shabby, contributing to a sense in some areas that the hotel is not as much historic as merely old. Food preparation takes place in a kitchen and bakery that are located in entirely separate parts of the building. The kitchen is crowded and inefficiently arranged, and with structures, finishes, systems, and fixtures that do not conform to current health and building codes. People with disabilities currently have access only to the first floor of the Anderson House. Without an elevator, disabled patrons have no way to reach the hotel rooms or bar. The hotel barroom is located in the basement of the 1887 building. Despite efforts to make the room appealing through the use of holiday lights, screens and paint, the room is dungeon like and difficult to access. Although spiral stairway, stairway leading to the back yard, the original stairs and areaway leading from the street façade is still in place but appears to be seldom used. Wabasha has a relatively new hotel—a 64-room Americinn on Highway 61. This facility primarily serves business travelers, and is equipped with an indoor pool, an event room Anderson House Reuse Study 13
Page 1 and 2: A Historic Properties Reuse Study o
Page 3 and 4: Project Background Wabasha is a his
Page 5 and 6: Robert Claybaugh, AIA Historic Arch
Page 7 and 8: Approach The project team has sough
Page 9 and 10: Site Issues The Anderson House occu
Page 11 and 12: Community Issues Wabasha is the sea
Page 13: Downtown Issues Like many small com
Page 17 and 18: Marketing Issues The Anderson House
Page 19 and 20: ALTERNATIVES Disposition Alternativ
Page 21 and 22: Ownership/Operation Alternatives Fo
Page 23 and 24: REUSE SCENARIOS Based on the inform
Page 25 and 26: Anderson House Reuse Study Addendum

Historic Properties Reuse Study of the Anderson ... - City of Wabasha

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