The Abilene Hotel Company, a consortium of stock investors, raised more than $350,000 to finance construction of a high-quality hotel and invited Conrad N. Hilton to operate it. The hotel was the second to bear his name (Dallas’s Hilton was the first). The ten-story, 260-room hotel was the tallest building in Abilene for many years. The Hilton’s restaurants, lobbies, and meeting rooms were important gathering places for visitors and Abilene citizens alike. In 1945, Hilton sold the lease, and the hotel was renamed the Windsor.
The building’s lower two stories are clad in cream terra-cotta, with eight floors of buff brick above. Ornament consists of a stringcourse and a classical cornice. Castle supervised all aspects of the building, including furnishings and fixtures. A two-story parking garage to the east, clad in matching brick, was built in conjunction with the hotel, acknowledging the growing importance of automobile travel. The building was rehabilitated as an apartment community for seniors.