{"nrhp_refnum":"99000331","name":"Marting Hotel","other_names":["Marting House","MacArthur Hotel, et al."],"category":"building","location":{"address":"202 Park Av.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Ironton","county":"Lawrence County","state":"OH","lat":38.53402349600003,"lon":-82.68582635399997,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1999-03-12","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A seven-story brick and reinforced-concrete hotel at 202 Park Avenue, at the corner of South Second Street, in downtown Ironton, Lawrence County, Ohio. Construction resumed in 1917 to designs by the Columbus firm Richards, McCarty & Bulford.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the building is significant under Criterion C for architecture. It is the only commercial building in Ironton's downtown built in the Italian Renaissance Revival style. Its period of significance runs from 1917 to 1948.","narrative":"Rising seven stories at the corner of Park Avenue and South Second Street, this brick hotel is a landmark of downtown Ironton, two blocks from the Ohio River. Plans for a grand hotel were drawn up in 1907 and again in 1914, but the second effort stalled after the basement was excavated, earning the site the nickname \"Ironton's Hole in the Ground.\" Work resumed in 1917 under a simpler design by the Columbus firm Richards, McCarty & Bulford. Because steel was scarce during World War I, builders used steel-reinforced concrete post-and-beam construction with hollow clay tile floor forms. The exterior features a dentiled cornice, limestone sills and lintels, stone belt courses, and keystone details. It is the only commercial building in downtown Ironton in the Italian Renaissance Revival style. A 1952 renovation enclosed the mezzanine as a ballroom and reduced the guest rooms from 128 to about 60. Marble stairs and terrazzo floors survive inside.","period_of_significance":"1917-1948","architect_builder":"Richards, McCarty & Bulford, Columbus, Ohio","architectural_style":"Italian Renaissance Revival","criteria":["C"],"status_note":"Listed as primarily vacant, with a restaurant/bar on the first floor and a private residence in the top-floor penthouse. The lower-level retail spaces are in neglected condition and have not been used commercially for 30 to 35 years.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:52:07.138686-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_OH/99000331.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/99000331/ca44a88aa5-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/99000331/ca44a88aa5-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Nyttend","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Marting_Hotel_front.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Nyttend</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Marting_Hotel_front.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71989627","wikipedia":null,"wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q16894698"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/ohio/lawrence-county/marting-hotel-99000331/"}