The two story part of the building to the west of the 3-1/2 story part of the building was built in 1822 as the Ballantine House which served as a hotel. This German Style brick structure is one of the oldest still standing in Boonville and in fact West of the Mississippi. The 3-1/2 story part was added in the 1830's. The wings on each end were added a story at a time in the 1870's and 1880's. At its peak, the hotel had 55 rooms and had a bath house, kitchen, and dining room as well as four bathrooms. The remaining central stair way is original. A cooking and baking beehive oven can still be accessed from the basement. There is now a protective structure over the outside top of the oven on the North side of the building.
The hotel had various names over the years and many owners. The most notable were the Pierce's Mansion House and the Commercial Hotel. The hotel catered to river, rail, and land traffic along the Missouri River and was a popular dining and sleeping establishment. Interstate 70 bypassed Boonville and the hotel finally closed in 1972.
National Register of Historic Places 1983
Vaughn X. Prost, developer and builder, purchased the property in 2001 with a vision to restore the historic hotel into class "A" office space. Prost Builders of Jefferson City, Missouri, the design builder, completed the historic restoration and renovation in 2003.
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