SANDUSKY, Ohio — A $26 million renovation of the Hotel Breakers at Cedar Point has caused the 96-year-old hotel to lose its National Historical Landmark status.

        Cedar Point officials thought they had no choice but to renovate the hotel built in 1905, even though it meant losing its landmark designation and its place on the National Register of Historic Places, said Janice Witherow, a spokeswoman for the amusement park.

        “The hotel was in major need of repair and was utilizing such old construction that we really felt it was necessary to upgrade,” Ms. Witherow said, noting that many guests demanded the park offer “more upscale accommodations” at the old hotel.

        Preservationists said they were dismayed that the hotel lost its historical designation this summer.

        “I'm disappointed because I thought it was a wonderful opportunity to refurbish the hotel as it might have been when it was first built,” said Ellie Damm, president of the Old House Guild of Sandusky.

        Her group had asked park officials to reconsider construction plans at the hotel, which received the national designation in 1987.

        Barbara Powers, who oversees national designations for the Ohio Historic Preservation Office, said the state also urged the park not to knock down two original wings to make way for new rooms. Hotel additions occurred in 1995 and in 1999, giving the hotel 650 rooms.

        Federal historians cited one of the additions, the 233-room, 10-story Breakers Tower, as a major drawback, saying it disrupted “the spatial and visual relationship between the original rotunda and wings.”

        The hotel still has some of its original character, including a tin ceiling and circular chairs in the lobby. In addition, a 1925 wing known as the Bon-Air Annex still stands.

        Ms. Powers said Cedar Point has other significant historical features that officials think are being preserved. Those include the 95-year-old Coliseum Ball Room and the Cedar Point Lighthouse, both of which have been restored and remain on the National Register of Historic Places. Also on the list are two of the park's carousels and the Great American Racing Derby Ride.

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