La Posada Hotel: Spring leaves were popping out during a previous visit in March a couple of years ago to the La Posada Hotel in Winslow, Ariz. The hotel features many southwestern design elements throughout the facility. Architect Mary Colter designed the hotel to resemble a southwestern hacienda. Photo by Gary Warren/ladailypost.com
La Posada Garden Entrance: A decorative wrought iron arch welcomes visitors to the garden area at the La Posada Hotel in Winslow, Ariz. A walk through the garden leads visitors to the main entrance of the hotel. Photo by Gary Warren/ladailypost.com
Turquoise Room: The Turquoise Room at La Posada Hotel is an award winning restaurant which occupies the same space as the Harvey House restaurant many years ago. The furnishings and decor seen throughout the facility are all museum quality and carefully chosen by Allan Affeldt and Tina Mion. Photo by Gary Warren/ladailypost.com
By GARY WARREN
Photographer
Formerly of Los Alamos
Railroad travel was the number one method of long distance travel in the U.S. in the early to mid-20th century. Automobiles were still in their infancy and the U.S. highway infrastructure was mostly dirt and gravel roads, especially in the wide open west portion of the country.
Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railway or often referred to as Santa Fe Railway was a major carrier of passengers from the midwestern states to the west coast. One major issue was the Santa Fe Railway had no sleeper cars and passengers were dependent on overnight stops along the route.
Since many of the facilities serving the rail passengers were not the greatest, Fred Harvey saw an opportunity to not only serve these passengers but to provide a first class hotel and restaurant facilities along the Santa Fe Railway routes.
The Fred Harvey Company operated many Harvey House Hotels and Restaurants along the railways for years and as the railroad moved west, so did the Harvey House Hotels.
La Posada Hotel was built in Winslow, Ariz. in 1929-1930 and opened in May 1930. Harvey chose Winslow because that is where the Arizona headquarters for the Santa Fe Railway were located. Mary Elizabeth Jane Colter, who worked for Fred Harvey Company as an architect and interior designer was selected as architect as she had designed other Harvey House Hotels.
The La Posada Hotel sat on several acres next to the railroad. The train platform sat next to the tracks and the hotel was located about 100 feet back from the tracks. The La Posada Hotel was to be the finest hotel in the southwest and it is considered to be Colter’s masterpiece work as an architect and interior designer. Only the finest quality and detail went into the design and construction. Colter designed the furnishings as well and had a facility built and she hired craftsman to build the furnishing on site of the hotel. The result was museum quality furnishings and decor at the La Posada Hotel when the hotel opened.
The sprawling 72,000 square foot hacienda style hotel opened in 1930 and was a huge success. Even with the Great Depression of the 1930s train travel remained good and the hotel and restaurant were successful during the depression. However, due to the Great Depression, La Posada was the last Harvey House Hotel to be built.
During the height of rail travel, the La Posada welcomed many famous guest ranging from Hollywood celebrities, business executives, and President Franklin Roosevelt spent nights at the hotel during the next two decades. Today each room is named for a famous person who stayed in that particular room.
However, after World War II, automobile travel was replacing the railroad as the preferred method of travel in the U.S. and airlines were the preferred travel choice of the wealthy. The decline of the passenger train continued and the La Posada Hotel was closed in 1957, only 27 years after its opening.
The Santa Fe Railway moved into the hotel building following the closure of La Posada. They converted much of the space to office space and made numerous changes to better suit their needs.
Furnishing and decor from the hotel was auctioned off and sold after the closure and the original southwestern charm and design features had disappeared. The railroad used the building until the early 1990s when it announced it would be moving from the building.
The hotel building and grounds were listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1992. The property later appeared on the National Trust for Historic Preservation endangered list in 1994 and it appeared demolition was certain. The citizens and officials of Winslow noting the vacant building was in high danger of demolition went to work to save the structure.
Following the Historic Preservation endangered listing in 1994, Allan Affeldt and his wife Tina Mion visited the hotel. They fell in love with the building as well as its architect Mary Elizabeth Jane Colter and her vision.
After three years of negotiations with the railroad, Affeldt purchased the hotel in 1997 and began the task of restoring this national treasure to its former glory.
Following the purchase of the hotel property, the job of restoration to bring the building and grounds back to their glory days began immediately. Allan Affeldt and his wife Tina Mion were joined by a third partner Daniel Lutzick who became the General Manager. Tina Mion was a well-known artist and she set up an art studio at the hotel and today the hotel features many of her paintings throughout the hotel.
While the restoration work began in 1997, it was a long process. The hotel was remodeled and restored one room at a time as was able to reopen with five remodeled rooms in less than a year after restoration work began.
Today the facility is restored and 55 guest rooms are available.
Another important improvement and addition was the opening of the Turquoise Room. The Turquoise Room is now a beautiful and award winning restaurant that occupies the same space as the Harvey Hotel restaurant years ago.
The hacienda style southwestern hotel has ample public spaces which have all been restored to their original beauty. These spaces serve as museum space, an art gallery, and retail spaces. Gathering areas can be found around the public space suitable for meeting friends and family or just a place to cozy up near a fireplace and enjoy a book.
The trains still pass by the La Posada Hotel dozens of times every day but most are freight trains. However, the hotel is still an active train station and Amtrak makes stops in Winslow on a daily basis.
The La Posada Hotel has been saved. This fabulous facility is a work of art and is again serving patrons every day. There are just a few of the Harvey House facilities left and the La Posada Hotel in Winslow is one of the finest.
We have visited the hotel a couple of times during recent trips to Arizona. We have never stayed overnight since we RV but we have enjoyed meals at the hotel and enjoyed the public spaces during each visit. An overnight stay at La Posada is something we hope to enjoy soon.
The photos shown in this Post From the Road were made during a previous visit to Winslow following a Spring Training baseball game in Phoenix.
Editor’s note: Longtime Los Alamos photographer Gary Warren and his wife Marilyn are traveling around the country, and he shares his photographs, which appear in the “Posts from the Road” series published in the Sunday edition of the Los Alamos Daily Post.
Hotel Public Space: There are several public spaces at the La Posada Hotel in Winslow, Ariz. The public spaces include a museum, an art gallery, and retail spaces. There are several nooks where visitors can meet friends or family and there are spaces to sit by the fireplace and read a book. Photo by Gary Warren/ladailypost.com
Walkway: A walkway at the La Posada Hotel serves as a presentation space for art work, plants, a selection of books for guests. The public space throughout the hotel is very special as there is something to see around every corner and the various pieces of artwork is impressive. Photo by Gary Warren/ladailypost.com
Southwestern Cozy: This public space says “southwestern cozy” to me. The inviting space with the fireplace offers ample space to meet up with friends or just a relaxing time to read a book by the fireplace. Photo by Gary Warren/ladailypost.com