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Penn Alto Hotel, 1120-1130 Thirteenth Ave Altoona, Blair County, PA
Perhaps better than any other single building in downtown Altoona, the Penn Alto Hotel symbolizes the civic spirit of the 1920s. Initiated by the newly formed chamber of commerce and financed by private subscriptions, the hotel represented an attempt to bring convention business to downtown Altoona. The chamber saw a need to diversify the city`s economy, which until then was dominated by a single industry- the Pennsylvania Railroad Company. Stylistically the nine-story building is an example of national trends rather than strictly local ones. Though local in inspiration, the project was undertaken by the George H. Stevens Company of Chicago, an early design-building firm, and consequently resembles many other large hotels in such geographically diverse places as Cleveland and Des Moines.
Penn Alto Hotel, 1120-1130 Thirteenth Ave Altoona, Blair County, PA
Perhaps better than any other single building in downtown Altoona, the Penn Alto Hotel symbolizes the civic spirit of the 1920s. Initiated by the newly formed chamber of commerce and financed by private subscriptions, the hotel represented an attempt to bring convention business to downtown Altoona. The chamber saw a need to diversify the city`s economy, which until then was dominated by a single industry- the Pennsylvania Railroad Company. Stylistically the nine-story building is an example of national trends rather than strictly local ones. Though local in inspiration, the project was undertaken by the George H. Stevens Company of Chicago, an early design-building firm, and consequently resembles many other large hotels in such geographically diverse places as Cleveland and Des Moines.
Posted Date
Sep 27, 2021
Source Name
Library of Congress
