Lassen Hotel (Wichita, Kansas)

Market Centre in Wichita, Kansas was built in 1918 as the Lassen Hotel. It was designed by architects Richards, McCarty & Bulford. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.[1]

Lassen Hotel
Lassen Hotel (Wichita, Kansas) is located in Kansas
Lassen Hotel (Wichita, Kansas)
Lassen Hotel (Wichita, Kansas) is located in the United States
Lassen Hotel (Wichita, Kansas)
Location155 N. Market St. (at 1st St.), Wichita, Kansas
Coordinates37°41′16″N 97°20′13″W
Arealess than one acre
Built1918
ArchitectRichards, McCarty & Bulford
Architectural styleChicago, Late 19th and 20th Century Revivals, Second Renaissance Revival
NRHP reference No.84000108[1]
Added to NRHPOctober 4, 1984

The 11-story building originally had an L-shaped plan for floors 3 to 11. It was expanded in 1922 by adding a wing that gave the stricture a U-shaped plan.[2]

The building has a 2-story annex that is not included in the NRHP listing.[2]

In 1954 a satellite studio of Hutchinson-based television station KTVH opened in the building. This was the first television station to open that covered Wichita, the state's largest city.[3] KTVH's attempts to provide service to Wichita, in what would become a running theme in the first three decades of station history, rankled the stations licensed there. KAKE radio and television petitioned the FCC in November 1954 to order KTVH to stop identifying as a "Wichita station";[4] it declined to do so.[5] In 1956, KTVH moved its Wichita facilities out of the Lassen and into quarters formerly used by the defunct KEDD.[6]

The hotel operated as the Lassen Motor Hotel until July 1, 1969, when it was renamed the Radisson Wichita Hotel.[7] In 1971, it was purchased by the Defenders of the Christian Faith and was operated as a retirement home with offices and retail space. It was the subject of the Kansas Supreme Court case, Defenders of the Christian Faith v. Board of County Commissioners, 219 Kan. 181, 547 P.2d 706 (1976). In 1983, work began to convert the structure to an office building.[2] By 1986, it was functioning as offices, renamed Market Centre. In 2015, the offices were vacated in preparation for a conversion of the structure into 110 apartments.[8] The work never began, and the structure is for sale, as of 2022.[9]

See also
  • KFH (AM) - the hotel previously owned this radio station

References
  1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. March 13, 2009.
  2. Richard J. Cawthon (August 21, 1983). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory/Nomination: Lassen Hotel / Market Centre". National Park Service. Retrieved November 17, 2016. with four photos from 1935 and 1982
  3. "Color Test Will Be Made Sunday Night". The Wichita Eagle (Evening ed.). August 20, 1954. p. 13.
  4. "KAKE Files Petition Against Station KTVH". The Wichita Eagle (Morning ed.). Associated Press. November 19, 1954. p. 6D.
  5. FCC History Cards for KWCH-DT
  6. "KTVH Seeks Re-designation: Says Double Title Confuses Ad Men". The Wichita Eagle. February 22, 1958. p. 10A. Archived from the original on October 24, 2021. Retrieved October 24, 2021.
  7. http://specialcollections.wichita.edu/collections/local_history/tihen/pdf/eagle-beacon/E-B1969.pdf
  8. https://www.bizjournals.com/wichita/news/2018/02/22/demo-work-for-market-centre-project-expected-to.html
  9. "155 N Market, Wichita, KS 67202".


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