Texas’ 1927 Hawn Hotel closed in 1978 and was condemned in 1989; a $17.6 million rehabilitation converted the vacant tower into 33 housing units and ground-floor commercial space

Vacant historic buildings can be adapted for new residential and commercial uses rather than demolished. The Hawn Hotel in Temple, Texas, is one such example. According to the National Park Service, the nine-story Hawn Hotel was built in 1927, closed in 1978, and was condemned in 1989. Its $17.6 million rehabilitation was completed in 2024, converting the long-vacant building into 33 housing units with commercial space on the ground floor.

Temple’s growth and the hotel’s role

The Hawn Hotel is a significant building in the city, known for being built at the time of Temple’s rapid development into an economic and railway center in Central Texas. The hotel stands eleven stories high, giving it a prominent place in the skyline of Temple. This hotel is constructed by combining bricks with nice decorative features and thus fitting nicely into the local landscape. Over the years, the hotel has hosted many social functions and represents a great accomplishment in the economy of Temple. However, like many of the historic downtown hotels in the US, changing travel patterns have been detrimental to demand. Newer accommodation development along freeways and in the suburbs has put older hotels in cities in a challenging position compared to those in the suburbs.


Unfortunately, in 1978, Hawn Hotel was closed after being operational for over 50 years. It then remained vacant for decades before its eventual rehabilitation. Without regular maintenance, vacant historic buildings can be prone to water damage, exposure to the elements, and vandalism, and repairs may become more expensive over time.

Bringing historic buildings back to life

The rehabilitation retained significant historic features while adding new mechanical systems, elevators, egress stairs, kitchens, and bathrooms for its new residential use. Rather than returning the property to hotel use, the developers adapted it for apartments and commercial space while retaining its historic character. Significant original features, including transomed hotel-room doorways, were retained, while missing historic details were researched and recreated. The project converted the former hotel into 33 housing units on the upper floors with commercial space on the ground floor.

A historic revitalization

In Temple, the Hawn Hotel was rehabilitated alongside the neighboring Arcadia Theatre and an adjacent commercial building as part of a broader mixed-use redevelopment of the long-vacant block. Texas Historical Commission records list the Hawn Hotel project’s total cost at about $17.62 million, illustrating the potential to combine historic preservation with new residential and commercial uses. The project gave the long-vacant hotel a new residential and commercial use while preserving significant historic features.

Preserving history through new purpose

In the Hawn Hotel project, adaptive reuse preserved the historic building while adding housing and commercial space. The Hawn Hotel illustrates how a long-vacant historic property can be converted into apartments and commercial space while retaining its architectural character. Instead of being demolished, the 1927 hotel was restored and returned to use as part of Temple’s downtown redevelopment.

The Hawn Hotel rehabilitation used federal and state historic tax credits as part of the project financing. The Federal Historic Preservation Tax Incentives Program provides federal tax credits for qualifying rehabilitation projects involving historic buildings. The program supports qualifying rehabilitation projects that preserve historic buildings while allowing them to remain in productive use. The program is an important strategy for encouraging the rehabilitation and adaptive reuse of historic buildings.