Manufacturer: Scammell China
User: Mayo Hotel
Distributor: Regnier & Shoup Merc. Co., St. Joseph, MO
Date of examples: circa 1925

The Daily Oklahoman - March 25, 1923 - story about Tulsa construction

Photo of the Mayo Hotel rooftop and its Penthouse Bar

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Notes:  In 1903, brothers Cass A. Mayo and John D. Mayo started a furniture store in Tulsa, Oklahoma, two years before the Glenn Pool oil field was discovered in 1905 and the local economy boomed. In 1908, they moved to a permanent location on 5th and Main in Tulsa.

In 1925, the brothers built the Mayo Hotel. The hotel was patterned after the Plaza Hotel in New York City and was constructed by architect George Winkler in the Sullivan-esque style of the Chicago School. The edifice boasts a base of two-story Doric columns, while the rest of the façade is mostly terra cotta accented by stone trim. It had 18 floors, a two-story basement and 600 rooms at the time of construction. A story in the March 25, 1923, Daily Oklahoman estimated the cost at $2,250,000.

The Mayo Hotel quickly became the premier hotel in Tulsa. Constructed during the height of the oil boom, the hotel was the host for decades-worth of high school proms, weddings, corporate events and other social functions. A literal "who's who" of American history stayed there, including President John F. Kennedy, Bob Hope, Charles Lindbergh, Babe Ruth, and Elvis Presley. The Mayo also served as a residence for J. Paul Getty for several years, and the John D. Mayo family lived in the hotel from 1941 until Mayo's death in 1972. The hotel was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.

By early 1981, the state of the economy, coupled with the oil bust, forced the hotel to close. Downtown Tulsa, like many other downtowns across the United States, had largely ceased to be the center of retail activity and was no longer the preferred place to stay for visitors from out of town. The hotel remained dormant for about 20 years, still standing but in a steady process of decay. In the early 2000s, a local family headed by John Snyder purchased the building and started the slow process of returning it to a functioning, operational hotel, and the Snyders restored the hotel to its former glory.

The building now (2026) has a mix of 76 luxury apartments and 102 hotel rooms. With the world-class BOK Center just a few blocks away, the Mayo Hotel is once again hosting visiting entertainers and celebrities who are in town to perform. The remodeled hotel has a restored ballroom and lobby; a 1925-themed restaurant – 1925 at the Mayo; and on what is now a 19th floor, the Penthouse Rooftop Bar; and other amenities.

Theories about the original Mayo Hotel funding, furnishings, china and decor:

• Rather than setting up a new company to build the hotel, the Mayo brothers used their existing Mayo Furniture Co. to finance, construct & furnish their new hotel; or

• They set up a new company to build the hotel, and used the existing Mayo Furniture Co. as the supplier of the furnishings. The furniture company was able to use their regular furniture factory sources to supply the furniture, carpets, draperies, lamps etc. They may have then billed the hotel at their regular retail mark-ups, but the profit would actually remain as a profit, or savings, to them selves. For the china, glassware, silverware, linens & kitchen equipment, which the furniture company was not already setup to supply, they need to subcontract with restaurant supply firms, such as Regnier & Shoup. This would explain the double backstamp on some pieces.

White Lamberton Body with a topmarked monogram logo of interlocking M A Y O letters, where the letter Y is a part of the letter M. The border band features blue and light brown diamonds with a light brown outer pinline.

This pattern has been seen with two different backstamps: one back-marked as shown above, the other back-marked Lamberton S China with the Scammell Wreath mark, dating to circa 1925.

For more info:
Mayo Hotel 2 by Scammell China
Mayo Hotel 3 by Scammell China
Mayo Hotel 4 by Shenango China
Mayo Hotel 5 by Shenango China

Sources:
The Mayo Hotel – history of the hotel
Tulsa Historical Society: Cass A. Mayo & John D. Mayo – article on the Mayo brothers
Tulsa Preservation Commission: Mayo Hotel – listing on historic buildings
Daily Oklahoman, March 25, 1923 – story on downtown Tulsa construction
Wikipedia – information on hotel
Cardcow.com– postcard

Contributors:
Kevin Gray, author and soup plate photos
Larry R. Paul, research
Paul Trosko, ID
Dick Bond, research
Ed Phillips, editor