Today's post is a 3-for-one deal!
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| aerial imagery courtesy of Bing Maps |
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| map graphic courtesy of signature-inns.com at archive.org |
The Bettendorf, Iowa, Signature Inn opened in 1989 and was the chain's only location in Iowa. It contains 119 rooms.
This hotel was sold in mid-2005 and as far as I can tell, it's been a Ramada ever since.
The following undated photos I saved from the Scott County, Iowa, Assessor's website shows that not much has been done regarding alterations to the exterior of the building...it still looks very much like a Signature Inn, and that is by no means a complaint.
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| courtesy of Scott County, IA, assessor |
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| courtesy of Scott County, IA, assessor |
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| courtesy of Scott County, IA, assessor |
Looking again at the aerial view, the pool enclosure had me intrigued. It looked like it could have been original, but many of the pools began as outdoor pools, so I did some more looking. As it turns out, the pool was replaced with an indoor one in 2006.
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| courtesy of Scott County, IA, assessor |
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| courtesy of Scott County, IA, assessor |
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| aerial imagery courtesy of Bing Maps |
The Kalamazoo, Michigan, location opened in 1989, containing 132 rooms. This was another one of Signature Inn's locations that was sold off in the mid 1990s; this particular hotel was sold in 1993.
The exterior of this hotel has changed very little since its opening; the only significant change was the addition of the pool enclosure in 1994, a year after its sale.
As of 2005, the hotel was a Best Western, as shown in the below photos, courtesy of the Kalamazoo, Michigan, assessor (and one from Google Maps).
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| courtesy of Kalamazoo, MI, assessor |
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| courtesy of Kalamazoo, MI, assessor |
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| October 2012 photo courtesy of Google Maps |
Sometime between October 2012 and September 2015, the hotel changed over to a Clarion Inn:
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| September 2015 photo courtesy of Google Maps |
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| aerial imagery courtesy of Bing Maps |
The Plymouth, Michigan, location opened in 1989. It contains 115 rooms, slightly less than the average. This hotel was sold out of the Signature Inn chain in late 1994.
Since its sale, this hotel has been a Comfort Inn. It has received some updates to the exterior, and as I was browsing Tripadvisor.com, I noticed that the pool was an indoor one and not S-shaped. Looking at a more recent overhead view from Google Maps, the outdoor pool had indeed been removed at some point. I'm not quite sure where in the hotel the indoor one is located.
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| aerial imagery courtesy of Google Maps |
sources for this post include the Scott County, Iowa, assessor's website, the Kalamazoo, Michigan, assessor's website, signature-inns.com archived at archive.org, jamesoninns.com archived at archive.org, information found at newspapers.com, and imagery found through Google Maps and Bing Maps. The dividing lines were also "borrowed" from Signature Inn's old site.
Photographs of other Signature Inn locations can be found here: Formerly Signature Inn by Ryan on Flickr
It's too bad that all of the outdoor S-shaped pools in this post were gotten rid of in favor of indoor ones, but at the same time, I can definitely see the appeal of an indoor pool vs. an outdoor one (just like malls!). Sure seems like they'd have had to sacrifice some of the (already fewer, you said) rooms at the last location to squeeze a pool in!
ReplyDeleteI did a little more digging...Kalamazoo still has the S-shaped pool, they just put walls & a roof around it, with enough room for a hot tub inside too.
DeleteI hope I have to go to Michigan sometime...I REALLY want to see the Plymouth location for myself. The Choice website shows photos of it (and it's a decent remodel), but it's just not the same.