The original hotel contained 150 rooms, a ballroom, large dining room, cocktail lounge, and spa. The spa was located in the basement of the hotel with connections to the area’s natural spring wells.

In the 1950’s the building changed its name to the Oaks Hotel. After several ownership changes, the building stood vacant in the 1980’s and was severely damage on the interior by fire in 1991. After standing vacant and open to the elements until 2006 SWD Architects developed a design to adaptively reuse the Oaks Hotel as senior housing and historically renovate the building at the same time. The renovation included building stabilization of the exterior load bearing masonry walls, repair of the interior areas damaged by fire, addition of two new code compliant exit stairways for the building and 40 new senior housing units.

Through the use of historic photographs and researching the few remaining clues in the deteriorated building SWD was able to redesign the original lobby and sun porch areas to match their original grandeur. The Oaks Apartments are playing a key role in the redevelopment of downtown Excelsior Springs by saving a prominent historic structure and local landmark while providing elegant senior housing in a downtown setting.