The OLD Hotel Brunswick, Lancaster,PA scale model

This first image was the very first artist rendering of what the building was to look like upon completion in late 1914. Then the image was used as the Brunswick's first post card,where I got this image from. This is a very rare post card that has a post mark of what I believe is the early 1920's.
Here is the Brunswick, shortly after completion,(around 1914).

Here is the Brunswick sometime in the 1920's or early 1930's after they added on to it.Here is a Lancaster Newspapers photo of the first night of demolition of the building on May 1, 1967.


Here is a model that took about a year to research,and plan, and about six years to complete. I started the work on this model in February of 1994, and finished building it in 2001. It took me that long to build this because the actual building was demolished in May of 1967. I watched them tear this beautiful Beaux Arts style building down as a nine year old that year. I look back on it now,and i still think, "What a waste!!"
Built in 1914,the hotel was well known for its Pennsylvania Dutch hospitality, and it great "home style" food. Also known for its "Seven Sweets & Seven Sours". I haven't figured out what that is yet,even though I was born and still live here in Lancaster County!!

Designed by C. Emlen Urban, the famous Lancaster City architect of the late 19th, and early 20th century, it was built in two stages. The first main part that sat at the corner of East Chestnut street, and North Queen streets, was built in 1914. There were covered entrances on both these streets, but the main entrance was facing Chestnut Street. They added on to the building by making the Chestnut street facade longer, and adding a ballroom hall. This was done in 1925.

It was built by Paul Heine ,an immigrant from Germany. This was the man who started the tourism industry here in Lancaster County, and made this area a fashionable place to visit.

By the 1960's,after Heine's son died, the management ran the hotel into the ground, and it closed its doors in 1964. At this time in American history,people pretty much were going to the suburbs for shopping needs and other purposes, and store owners were quick to do the same to stay in business. People used their cars more to go places rather than walk to stores in center city. Downtown was(is) not very car parking friendly, so people left. It got to the point where most of the store fronts were vacant in that block where the hotel stood. The hotel itself had some stores,at street level.

By 1965, both sides of that block of North Queen streets, and the whole south side of the block of East Chestnut streets , including the nine story tall Brunswick,were declared as "blighted" properties,and I believe that they were seized through Eminent Domain,by the city of Lancaster,via then mayor Monagham. The city got a federal grant to redevelop the blocks, but only they would only get the grant, if they, (the feds) saw the land was cleared first.

Mass demolition of the buildings commenced in the spring of 1965, and was wrapped up in the summer of 1967. Many beautiful building were laid to waste, some even dating back to the colonial era, Victorian, Beaux Arts, and other magnificent structures, including a Greek revival design bank building, complete with a sweeping multistory arch window, and flanking Corinthian columns!! People did try to stop this, but to no avail. You can't stop big government. the signs around the demolition sights stated, ironically,"Tearing Down To Make Way For Progress". What a joke that was.

After the land was cleared, they did put up a new hotel on the same sight where the old Brunswick stood, and it was built as a Hilton Inn. It almost has the exact same "footprint" as the old building did. It is a slab sided monolithic red brick with horizontal white concrete striped structure that still stands today. Ironically,after the Hilton chain sold it to a private company in 1976, they change the name back to the "Hotel Brunswick" to try to appease the people of Lancaster for the loss of one of the most popular hangouts for the locals for generations.....

Here are some pictures of my scale model. The first image is from a vintage post card. One of the other images is is a period Lancaster Newspapers photograph from about 1965.

There are some more historic pictures of the actual building at the beginning, and the end of its existence,also, (the first four pictures of this post).

Jim.