A historic Mayfield hotel that has stood in the far western Kentucky city’s court square for nearly a century will soon be demolished.
The Mayfield Board of Condemnation voted to condemn the Hall Hotel Tuesday, over two years after the building suffered severe damage during the December 2021 tornado outbreak.
Two dozen people died and hundreds of buildings were impacted in the Graves County seat. The disaster particularly devastated Mayfield’s downtown, leaving entire blocks in rubble, damaging key infrastructure and destroying valuable historic structures.
The Hall Hotel survived the storm and initial cleanup efforts, but now city officials have declared the building unsafe because of the damages it sustained during the disaster. The decision earlier this week was preceded by multiple meetings of the condemnation board – which is made up of six community volunteers appointees.
In February, the board set a 30-day deadline for the hotel’s current owners, Youngblood Investment Properties, to present a repair plan. When that deadline came earlier this week, the owners didn’t propose one.
“We just went in and let them condemn it,” said Macy Youngblood Towery, a spokesperson for the organization.
A city official provided further detail about the meeting, stating the owners felt a timeline for renovating the hotel could potentially “slow economic development” in Mayfield’s downtown as tornado recovery continues.
“Their whole point in wanting to revitalize it was for the community, and so they felt like they didn't want to hinder any progress based on the timeline,” said Justin Carrico, a City Projects Administrator for the City of Mayfield.
The board voted in favor of condemnation, giving Youngblood Investment Properties 30 days to find a contractor to demolish the building and an additional 30 days after that to fully demolish the Hall Hotel.
Built in 1930, the three-story Hall Hotel was originally constructed to accommodate traveling salesmen and businessmen who came to do business in Mayfield. Later, an additional two floors were added to allow for more occupants as the hotel grew in popularity.
Since then, the building has remained mostly the same with minor renovations made over the decades to keep it up to code. Local businesses, like Rita’s Cafe, remained active in the space until the tornado caused severe damage in late 2021.
A 1984 application to place the Mayfield Downtown Commercial District on the National Register of Historic Spaces describes the Hall Hotel as having been “the social center of Mayfield” for four decades.
That application was a success, but the designation does not come with any protections. The Kentucky Heritage Council’s website states that a“listing in the National Register confers honorary status on historic sites and does not affect property ownership rights or place any restrictions or obligations on property owners.”
While the hotel’s prominence had declined in recent decades, many community members still regard the building as an iconic local point of interest.
Mayfield Mayor Kathy O’Nan said, while she believes tearing down the hotel is the right thing to do, she thinks many will miss it in the Mayfield court square. She said she personally has fond memories of having weekly dinners with her parents at Rita’s Cafe.
“We went there every Sunday after church, and it was just an important part – has been in different capacities – for the lives of people in Mayfield,” O’Nan said. “It'll be sad to see it gone.”
Though O'Nan said she is excited about the possibilities of a blank canvas in Mayfield’s downtown court square, no plans for the property have been announced.
