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Tulsa had never seen anything quite like the Camelot Inn when the 330-room hotel designed to evoke the atmosphere of Merrie Olde England in October 1965.

No alligators swam in the moat, but the drawbridge lowered and a doorman costumed as the Keeper of the Realm welcomed guests to step back to a time when knighthood was in flower.

Owners Ainslie Perrault and Richard O. Wheeler built the $5 million, nine-story hotel at Interstate 44 and Peoria Avenue to resemble a medieval castle. They had originally planned to stock the 8-foot-wide, 3-foot-deep moat with small alligators, but dropped the idea upon learning that the reptiles couldn’t survive in such an environment.

“Don’t let it be forgot

“That once there was a spot

“For one brief shining moment

“That was known as Camelot.”

Betty Wheeler, wife of one of the co-owners, devised the hotel’s décor, working with an array of suppliers, many of whom created custom furnishings.