1886: Building constructed
1886–1890: Cooks Hotel
1890–1920: Commercial Hotel
1921–1950s: Yamhill Hotel
1945: Mack Theater was built
2005–present: Mack Theater vacant
2001–present: Serendipity
This large, rectangular, three-story, stuccoed brick Italianate building has a flat roof and a decorative pressed metal-bracketed cornice. Stuccoed belt courses articulate the story divisions. The Third street façade originally had four bays but now has two as a result of the Mack Theater being installed in the eastern half of this façade. The northwest corner of the building is one bay wide with a clipped corner entrance. There is a concrete block building attached to the hotel which was built in 1946.
The Building was erected in 1886 by L. H. Cook of McMinnville and was known historically as the Cook’s Hotel. The building was described at the time as a three story brick building with plans drawn by B. F. Fuller. Fuller was a farmer and the brother-in-law of Lyman Hall Cook who built the hotel. The original hotel housed 28 bedroom chambers. It had a billiard hall, bridal chamber, an elegant second floor parlor and a large dining room where meals cost 25 to 50 cents.
By 1890 the hotel was referred to as The Commercial House with lodging at the cost of $1.00–$2.00per day which would be approximately $27.00-–$53.00 today. Currently, a Victorian era ice-cream parlor, complete with a player piano, anchors the corner storefront. Contrary to popular belief, Mack Theater is not named after McMinnville, but rather the Mattechecks, its first proprietors.
Primary Significant Contributing: Structures are classified as Primary Significant if they were built in or before 1912, or reflect the building styles, traditions, or patterns of structures typically constructed before this date. These buildings represent the primary period of construction and development in downtown McMinnville from initial settlement in 1881 to 1912, when city improvements and use of the Oregon Electric and Southern Pacific Railroad service promoted new construction in the downtown area.
