La Fonda on The Plaza- Santa Fe, NM

The best historic hotels are those that effectively reflect a sense of both time and place. Hotels that capture the essence of the surrounding community, as well as the era when they were constructed. In this regard, as well as all others, La Fonda on The Plaza nails it.

While an inn has been located in La Fonda’s present location on the Santa Fe Plaza for hundreds of years, the current hotel most recently replaced the 1851 Exchange Hotel, a one story flat roofed adobe structure, with rooms arranged around a central courtyard. By the early 1900s, this building was considered dated, and didn’t fit the new architectural ideal of Old Santa Fe- which is more than a little ironic. When the building burned down, the community immediately looked to replace it with something more appropriate.

In 1919, Isaac Hamilton Rapp, an architect from Orange, New Jersey was awarded the commission to design a new Spanish-Pueblo Revival style hotel on the location, which is also more than a little ironic. In any event, he did produce a fabulous building, featuring stepped and terraced elevations, irregular parapets, wooden posts topped by corbel capitals and square beams, projecting virgas, and a three story bell tower.

Inside, the hotel featured exposed wood beam ceilings, tiled floors, and mission style furniture. It was a fabulous hotel, however once the main line of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad bypassed Santa Fe, the city struggled to attract tourists, and the hotel closed in 1924. Again ironic, the hotel was purchased by a subsidiary of the railroad, who leased it to the Fred Harvey Company.

Harvey then brought in designer Mary Colter, a Harvey House employee, to update the hotel’s interior to reflect the ideal Santa Fe style. In 1926, Harvey began offering automobile tours to rail passengers, promising an authentic New Mexico experience. Tourists arrived in droves, and soon John Gaw Meem was commissioned to expand the hotel.

Working together, Meem streamlined Rapp’s design and added a new five story wing; Colter redesigned the lobby and interiors, adding fireplaces, tin chandeliers, and hand painted furniture. Wildly successful, the hotel operated as a Harvey House until 1969. By that time, the heyday of rail travel was long over, and the hotel was suffering from neglect. Run down and decrepit, rooms at the once grand hotel were renting for just $8 a night, and there was talk of demolition.

Fortunately, Samuel and Ethel Ballen stepped in, and along with local investors purchased the hotel. They began the first of several renovations, which would return the La Fonda to the masterpiece it once was. In 2014, the hotel was purchased by family friends of the Ballens, who worked to return the hotel to Colter’s original vision.

Today, the hotel is every bit as luxurious as when it was built. Guest rooms have all been updated, and several new spaces have been added, such as the rooftop Bell Tower Bar. The lobby lounge was redesigned, and the lobby opened up. Original art remains throughout the building, including ten Gerald Cassidy paintings depicting life in the frontier West, as well as newer additions, with original art hanging in every room.

The end result is a hotel Mary Colter would recognize, but also one where you will be very comfortable. A hotel with a clear sense of time and place. One of my favorite historic hotels, I cannot wait to return.