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 About Crystal Bridges at the Massey
Crystal Bridges at the Massey is located on the first floor of the historic Massey Building, located just off the square in downtown Bentonville, Arkansas. The first building on the site was the two-story Eagle Hotel, constructed 1840. It was destroyed in 1908 to make room for the larger, more modern hotel built by R.D. Massey.
The Massey Hotel opened in 1910, a three-story 25,500-square-foot structure designed in the Second Renaissance Revival style. The building’s street level floor, where Crystal Bridges at the Massey is now located, featured the hotel lobby and registration area, guest shop, ballroom and restaurant. Upper rooms contained individual rooms and suites.
The site of the Massey Building has a colorful history. During the Civil War, as the Eagle Hotel, it housed Union soldiers just prior to the Battle of Pea Ridge in 1862. In addition to the two hotels, the building has served as a train ticket station, a radio station, a barber shop and a gift shop.
Following a 1975 fire that destroyed the roof, the building was renovated with the assistance of historians and architects from the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program and restored as closely as possible to its original design. When the Massey Building reopened in 1978, the lower floor became home to the Bentonville Public Library, and the upper floors were converted to office space. The library moved to its new home in 2006, vacating the space that is now Crystal Bridges at the Massey.
The Massey Building was placed on the National Register of Historical Places in 1979.
Courtesy of the Bentonville Public Library
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