User:Ditch Fisher/sandbox/Benwalt Hotel

The old Benwalt Hotel (sometimes referred to as Hotel Benwalt) is a building of contributing historical significance to the Downtown Philadelphia Historic District in Philadelphia, Mississippi. The hotel was a notable landmark during Civil Rights era marches, as well as an enduring historical and cultural place-of-interest for present-day citizens of Philadelphia.

Building History
Located at 232-238 North Byrd Avenue, the three-story hotel was designed by architect R.C. Springer, and built by co-owners and construction partners Ben Howell and Walter Perry. "Benwalt" is a combination of the owner's two first-names. (Even though the original roof-top sign read as "Hotel Benwalt," it is almost exclusively referred to as the "Benwalt Hotel" in documents, including the Mississippi Department of Archives and History official website.)

Sometime around WWII, an Art Moderne storefront was inserted into the hotel's first-floor central section, where-in a restaurant operated until the early 2000s.

Philadelphia businessman, Morgan Hardy, purchased the hotel in 1976, later re-naming it the Downtown Motor Inn. Circa 1979, Hardy installed a Quonset hut and fourth floor balconies, greatly changing the hotels exterior appearance.

A California couple purchased the hotel in 2010. In an effort to received tax credits to convert the old hotel into a cultural center, renovations were undertaken to restore a close approximation of the hotel's original architectural design, with the removal of the Quonset hut and other exterior elements that had been introduced over the years.

The plan for the cultural center never fully developed, and the hotel was again sold in 2012 to a former pastor hoping to open a ministry in the building.

Historical Classification
When the Downtown Philadelphia Historic District was designated in 2005, the old hotel was originally listed a "non-contributing" to the district's historical significance. Following the Quonset hut being removed during renovations in 2010 (as well as other exterior elements), the hotel's classification was changed to "contributing" later that year.