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More than a face-lift Photos by Bob Pennell The Mark Antony Hotel will offer larger rooms when the renovation is complete, some with a view of Ashland through arched windows. Mark Anthony's new owner envisions return to grandeur BY DANI DODGE ASHLAND -- Where once there were walls between tiny rooms, the plaster is knocked away. The electrical system gutted, wires hang uselessly from 1970s-era ceiling fans not yet removed. Holes ripped into the cement floors -- all that's left of old plumbing -- gape open-mouthed, as if in shock. In his renovation of the historic Mark Antony Hotel in downtown Ashland, developer Doug Neuman isn't just dressing up the nine-story structure, like putting a ballgown over a sooty Cinderella. He's stripping her down to the bones. And from that gaunt yet sturdy frame, he's recreating the elegance and grandeur lost after nearly 75 years of use. This is the view through an eighth-floor window of the building once billed as the tallest structure between San Francisco and Portland. And misuse. "The bones are really in good shape," he said pointing out the cement floors that are reinforced with steel. "My vision is to have this building be a landmark again." A San Francisco design firm -- Candra Scott and Associates -- is working with Neuman to furnish the interior. Claudia Adetuyi, the marketing director for the firm, explained what people will see when it is completed: "Upon entering, hotel guests are welcomed into the grand two-story lobby with its original terrazzo floor and massive fireplace. Oriental rugs cover the floors and large specimen palms and ferns reach toward the ceiling. "The upholstered pieces of the eclectic furniture are covered in coach cloths and ticking in natural colors. Colonial-style furniture and ceiling fans ... adorn the mezzanine where English tea is served each afternoon, complete with fine china and silver." Roses, hollyhocks, foxgloves, columbines and delphiniums will bloom in the English garden that replaces the old pool area. The guest rooms will glow with the soft colors of apricots, melons and pears. "Painted custom furniture, ceiling fans, mosquito netting about the beds and hand-painted lampshades add a flair of international travel," Adetuyi said. "Luxurious linens, French quilts and cotton or linen fabrics on the beds, chair and window treatments give a sense of eased luxury." Adetuyi's firm specializes in interior designs for renovated hotels. They have worked on such high-profile projects as the The Governor Hotel in Portland. "When the Mark Antony was built the owners had a big dream," Adetuyi said. "We want to bring back that original dream. "People will be even more proud now than they were then." The Mark Antony was built in 1925 as the Lithia Springs Hotel during Ashland's early heyday as a tourist mecca. People flocked to Ashland on the train to enjoy the Lithia water and Chautauqua shows. But the next year, the passenger train changed its route. The Depression followed. Over the years, there were numerous sales and bankruptcies. By the 1970s, the once-grand hotel functioned as a flophouse of cheap apartments. Rumors of ghosts haunting the halls floated around town. In 1992, a local American Indian tribe held a ceremony intended to remove the "bad vibes." It didn't help. In November 1997, the city switched off the hotel's power because the owners weren't paying the utility bills. The hotel had been closed eight months when Neuman bought it at a bankruptcy sale in July 1998 for $1.6 million. At the time, Neuman estimated the renovation would cost between $2 and $10 million and would take a year. But now "it's much closer to $10 million" and the opening is scheduled for April 2000. He said decisions to add a pre-function area to the hotel for conferences, as well as other details, delayed the project. Each day between five and 50 workers in hard hats are in and out of the old hotel. At this point, the demolition is pretty much completed, Neuman said. Plumbing and electrical systems have been torn out. The elegant 1920s chandelier in the lobby, though, still remains. Workers are starting to repair and reinforce the windows in the rooms. Many of the windows still bear the wavy glass from the 1920s -- something Neuman hopes to keep. "It's the original way it was and it's cool," he said. As he walked through the hotel on an inspection, Fire Chief Keith Woodley smiled. "What a vision," he said, his voice echoing in the empty lobby. "It's going to be beautiful." And referring to the safety features being added, like sprinklers, he noted: "And we are going to like the new building a heck of a lot more than the old one." Neuman believes the hotel will not only be safer, but more elegant. And he doesn't think his dream will be waylaid by ghosts or bad luck. In his eight months in the hotel, being there both night and day, he hasn't seen hide nor hair of any apparitions. And he laughs at the notion the place is cursed. "It was the curse of the underfinanced." Today's Business Index Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA