Redick Tower
An eleven-story Art Deco tower that solved the automobile problem before anyone else: seven floors of indoor parking for 500 cars, topped by an office tower—the whole city stacked vertically.
At a glance
Completed in 1930 at 1504 Harney Street in downtown Omaha, the Redick Tower was the creation of architect Joseph G. McArthur for developer Garrett and Agor, Inc. At eleven stories it is modest by skyscraper standards, but its innovation was singular: a fully enclosed multi-story garage occupying the lower seven floors, an arrangement rarely attempted at that scale. The upper levels provided commercial office space, and storefronts wrapped the street level. Named in honor of the Redick family—pioneer settlers who arrived in Omaha in 1856—the building stands today as Hotel Deco and as one of Nebraska’s clearest demonstrations of Art Deco principles applied to urban infrastructure.
Key facts
- Architect: Joseph G. McArthur
- Developer: Garrett and Agor, Inc.
- Year completed: 1930
- Floors: 11 (7 parking floors, 4 office floors)
- Parking capacity: 500 cars (lower seven floors)
- NRHP designation: June 21, 1984 (ref. 84002470)
- Current use: Hotel Deco (since 2011)
- Address: 1504 Harney Street, Omaha, NE 68102
History
The site was chosen during Omaha’s downtown expansion of the late 1920s, when automobile ownership had grown rapidly enough to make parking a genuine civic and commercial problem. McArthur’s solution—stacking a parking structure beneath a commercial tower—was prescient. The lower seven floors were engineered to accommodate ramps and bays for up to 500 vehicles, with the office tower rising above in stepped Art Deco form.
The Redick Tower Corporation acquired the building in the mid-1930s, giving it the name it retains. Subsequent decades brought changing ownership: Denver-based Parking Corporation of America took over in 1973, operating the building first as a Radisson Hotel and then as a Best Western property until closure in 2009.
In 2010 the White Lotus Group purchased the property and undertook a comprehensive renovation. The building reopened in 2011 as Hotel Deco, leaning into its architectural heritage with interiors that reference the original Art Deco character throughout the lobby and public spaces.
What you see
From Harney Street, the Redick Tower reads as a stepped volume—a characteristic Art Deco setback profile that narrows as it rises. The lower floors, clad in brick with Art Deco detailing at the entry bays, give little indication of the garage behind the facade: the ramp structure is absorbed into the building mass without exterior expression. Vertical brick piers and recessed spandrels in the upper floors accelerate the sense of height.
The Hotel Deco interior has preserved much of the original lobby character, with geometric ornament and warm finishes that recall McArthur’s design vocabulary. The parking floors, still functional within the hotel operation, occupy a unique place in American architectural history as an early large-scale experiment in vertical urban logistics integrated with a commercial program.
Practical information
- Current use: Hotel Deco — lobby open to hotel guests and visitors
- Address: 1504 Harney Street, Omaha, NE 68102
- Best time to visit: Lobby accessible year-round during hotel hours
- Time needed: 15–30 minutes to examine exterior and lobby
Getting there
The Redick Tower stands in the heart of downtown Omaha at 15th and Harney Streets, two blocks east of the Old Market entertainment district. Omaha Eppley Airfield (OMA) is approximately seven miles northeast. The tower is walkable from most downtown hotels and the CHI Health Center arena; street parking and garages are available in the surrounding blocks.
Nearby
- Old Market Historic District — brick-paved streets and 19th-century warehouses converted to galleries and restaurants, two blocks west
- Joslyn Art Museum — Nebraska’s premier art museum in a 1931 Art Deco building of pink Georgia marble, half a mile north
- Durham Museum — 1931 Beaux-Arts Union Station converted to a history museum, one mile west
Sources
- Redick Tower — Wikipedia
- National Register of Historic Places, ref. 84002470
- Hotel Deco, White Lotus Group redevelopment documentation (2011)
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