Sheridan Inn

Client: Sheridan Heritage Center

Site: Sheridan, Wyoming

The Sheridan Inn is a National Historic Landmark located in the community of Sheridan, Wyoming at the foot of the Big Horn Mountains. Built by the W.F. Cody Hotel Company, and the Burlington and Missouri Railroad in 1893 to showcase the west and attract an ever burgeoning flow of tourists, the inn also promoted settlement of the coal mining and agricultural areas around Sheridan. Described as one of the finest hotels west of Chicago, many of the historic figures associated with the inn invoke imagers that are “larger than life”; Cody often held auditions for his Wild West Show on the inn’s front lawn. Like much, from this unpredictable time in American History, the Sheridan Inn has survived against odds, which brought it near the brink of destruction. It remains as a vivid architectural reminder of an exciting period in the history of Wyoming, and the settlement of the western United States. The non-profit corporation that owns this historic inn, selected our firm to perform a Historic Structures Report and Re-use Feasibility Analysis. tCi undertook the analysis of the Sheridan Inn, drawing on our firm’s expertise in historic building evaluations, the renovation and marketing of historic hotels, and heritage tourism, to determine the feasibility of re-establishing the inn as a hotel, and to evaluate its potential for restaurant or conference and wedding venues. Market information was incorporated into a design program, which also included the Collaborative’s design parameters, stabilization, recommendations, and code requirements. Conceptual designs were completed and costs were estimated. The Sheridan Heritage Center is using this market analysis and physical evaluation to raise funds for the project.