On Monday, June 11, 2018 at 2:34:21 PM UTC-4, Larry Kraus wrote:
On 6/11/2018 11:50 AM, Larry Kraus wrote:
On 6/10/2018 8:01 PM, DerbyDad03 wrote:
During my weekend travels, I was eating at a luxurious sidewalk cafe,
also
known as the Two Rivers Burrito Co., a taco joint in Westfield, MA. As I
enjoyed my gourmet meal, I looked across the street at the City Hotel.

At first glance I simply said "That's an ugly building". After a very
short time I realize why it was so visually unpleasing.

The tree partially blocks the building but if you look closely you'll see
that the third floor windows have no alignment with the second floor
windows,
plus none of the windows on either floor are spaced in any kind of
symmetrical
manner in relation to each other . The rectangles near the top (old
windows
or vents perhaps?) also don't line up nicely with anything below them.

Aside from strange layout of the windows in relation to each other, both
set of windows are shifted to one side of building, touching the trim on
one side, with a 6'-8' gap on the other.

https://i.imgur.com/28zvdCM.jpg

You should be able to walk around via this Google Map link. (the taco
joint
is directly behind you)

https://tinyurl.com/city-hotel-ma

I wonder if the building was renovated on the inside for a maximum/better
room layout and they let the exterior be damned, ending up however it had
to based on the interior. I almost tossed my tacos just looking at it.
;-)


It's a government building, probably designed by a committee.

What did you expect?
My bad - it's a hotel.

Actually, it's not a hotel anymore. I just called and got some info,
but not enough. The person who answered did not know much more history
than the following:

The "City Hotel" is the name of the bar on the first floor.

The building has been in the same family since 1912. It used to be a fancy
restaurant and hotel, but now it's a bar downstairs and monthly rentals
upstairs. She called them "rooms" and said that there were "4 guys renting
them". Based on the size of the building, that sounds more like 4 apartments
than "rooms" but it was tough to get much more out of her. I got the
impression that she may have been a patron, not an employee.

I mentioned the exterior and asked if perhaps it had been renovated to look
like it does now but she had no idea. I may called the city tomorrow and
see if I can get anything out of them.

Based on the little info that I got - used to be a hotel and now it's
monthly rentals - I'm sticking with my original assumption: They renovated
the interior to turn it into income property and let the exterior be damned.
I seriously doubt that they are commanding high rents.

The address of the City Hotel is 43 Elm St. This document lists that address
as nothing more than a "commercial block" but it appears to have a "MA
Historical Commission Designation". Maybe I should call them.

https://www.cityofwestfield.org/Docu...ies-List-09-15