After 71 years, the Castaneda Hotel in Las Vegas, N.M., is open again with seven rooms available and more opening in the next few weeks. The hotel was built in 1898 as the first Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway trackside Fred Harvey Hotel. It thrived through the 1930s, struggled during the Great Depression, and finally closed in 1948. Seeing an architectural gem, Allan Affeldt and his wife Tina Mion bought the hotel in 2014 and began renovations.
The original hotel had 40 rooms, but modern expectations dictate each room will be twice as large and host its own bathroom. During a special tour of the hotel rooms, Tina Mion says, “Each room is themed with a New Mexico animal, either still alive or extinct.”
The hotel’s bar and lounge are designed after the famous bar at the Legal Tender in Lamy, N.M., which Affeldt and Mion also own. It’s scheduled to open April 15th. When the restaurant opens in June, the hotel will have one of the largest food and beverage facilities in Northern New Mexico.
The Amtrak Southwest Chief stops at the Las Vegas, N.M., depot next to Castaneda Hotel, making it a convenient travel destination.
I should look up the history of this Harvey House, but I believe (and doing it from memory so I could be wrong) it was decorated by Mary Colter. These hotels are architectural treasures from a bygone era and I am always happy to see one come back to life.
The above comments are general in nature and do not form the basis for an attorney/client relationship. They do not constitute legal advice. I am not your attorney. Find your own damn lawyer.
Maybe you are thinking of La Posada (Harvey) Hotel in Winslow, AZ, which was designed by Mary Colter, and was restored I believe by the same people.
La Castaneda does not appear on any list of buildings that I could find that Mary Colter designed and/or decorated. Frederick Roehrig designed La Castaneda, but I could find anyone credited with the interior decorations. Mary Colter did contribute, however, to a variety of other Harvey hotels in New Mexico.