The hotel was designed by Mr. Nail of Mansfield, Ohio. In 1875, the Hotel was leased to Mr. Nash from Tennessee. The hotel had no running water or electricity and had a two-story outhouse located in the present courtyard. A two story 32-room annex was constructed south of the hotel in 1879 to house servants of guests; in later years it was used as a dormitory for employees. This area of the hotel was torn down in 1962 to enlarge the parking lot. The 60 room east wing along Maple Street was constructed in 1890 at a cost of $20,000. At this time, electric lights were installed in each room and some plumbing was installed in a few public baths and rest rooms. This wing connected the original building and the 1879 annex building. The floor plans from 1894 show the main entrance on the lake with the parlor behind the columns in the present front dining room. The registration desk was in the present lobby. There is still a portion of the original dining room and the cane bottom chairs and long tables for 8 are the original tables and chairs of 1875.
In 1914 some changes were made. The front porch was enlarged and a concrete floor installed, along with a fireplace in the lobby. Wash basins were added to each room during the 1930’s. In 1947 the marine dining room was installed, the front porch was screened in and about half of the rooms had full or partial baths installed. In 1955, the Lakeside Association took over direct management of the hotel. During this time they upgraded the lobby and many rooms with new paper, rugs, mattresses, and plumbing.
However, in the ensuring years the hotel was not maintained and constantly lost money. The Trustees planned to have it torn down and hopefully replaced by a motel, senior citizens residences or restaurant. No one came forward with an offer of constructing a new facility and there were not funds available to tear down the old hotel. Things reached a climax in 1973 when over half of the rooms were unusable and the state increasingly threatened to close the hotel for lack of a sprinkler system. A group of Lakeside residents determined that the hotel could and should be saved and restored; in August 1973 The Friends of the Hotel Lakeside was founded for this purpose and on August 17, 1974 the Board of Trustees resolved to save and preserve the hotel.
The Friends of the Hotel Lakeside and Lakeside Association have been working together since 1974 to upgrade the facility. The most important improvements have included complete rewiring, partial new plumbing, sprinkler system throughout, elevator to all floors, restoration and replacement of the kitchen, restoration and air conditioning of the dining room, restoration of the lobby, carpeting the lobby, all halls and stairs, foundation repair, restoration and reconfiguration of 70 of the rooms and air-conditioning 17 of them. During the end of 2002 and the beginning of 2003, the entire first floor was remodeled. We have added 4 new handicap accessible rooms and 2 new suites while still maintaining the Victorian style tradition.
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