GREEN BAY (WLUK) — A downtown Green Bay hotel is being recognized for preserving a part of the city’s history.
The Wisconsin Historical Society presented Hotel Northland with the Board of Curator Historic Restoration Award Tuesday.
Hotel Northland, built-in 1924, was the social center in downtown Green Bay that hosted a number of banquets, dances and football fans during its 55 years of use.
For more than 30 years following the hotel’s closure in 1979, the building operated as Port Plaza Towers, a home for seniors and disabled people.
Once the project to restore the hotel back to its former glory was given the green light, construction began in 2015.
After a 40-year break, the hotel on N. Adams St. reopened in 2019.
“They have done a meticulous job of carefully restoring woodwork, plasterwork, mosaic tile floors, chandeliers and coffered ceilings in the lobby and ballroom,” said Penkiunas. “The entire brick and stucco exterior have also been restored with brand new copper-clad marquees, mounted above the entrance to replicate what was there originally,” said Daina Penkiunas, state historic preservation officer for the Wisconsin Historical Society.
The 160-room hotel features 18 suites, a fitness center, 11,000 square feet of meeting space and a lower-level bar area with a bowling alley.
Hotel Northland general manager, Kenny Didier, says the hotel has been well received by the community.
The 1st and 10th of every month, Hotel Northland offers public tours at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m.
Didier says members of the community have ties to the hotel like their great-grandfather was a bellman or their junior prom was held at the hotel.
“And I thought over time interest would wan, but we still have 40-50 people that come in the community that come to the property to do the tours and they’re just blown away by the renovation, the historical component and really what it has done for the revitalization of the downtown Green Bay area in this space,” Didier said.
Hotel Northland is also listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places.
