The Magnolia occupies one of downtown Omaha’s great old buildings: the Aquila Court, built in 1923 and modeled after the Bargello in Florence, listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It became a hotel in 1996 (as a Westin, then a Sheraton), and the Magnolia chain took it over in 2006 — but the bones are pure Jazz Age Omaha.
The 145-room hotel sits at Howard and 16th, an easy walk to the Old Market, the Orpheum, and the Holland Center. The Magnolia Ballroom handles events, the restaurant covers the basics, and the whole place has the comfortable, slightly grand feel of a hotel that knows its building is the attraction. Dogs stay free, which the reviews mention constantly.
It’s the downtown historic-hotel alternative to the bigger flagships — character, location, and a story, at a moderate price.