Beyond the MetroABQ: Hotel Casteeda in Las Vegas, New Mexico
At 120 years old, La Castaeda Hotel has seen better times--for 50+ years it was a Fred Harvey Hotel & considered the "Queen of Las Vegas," New Mexico. Las Vegas is a small town with over 900 homes & businesses on the National Register of Historic Places, a stunning number of historic buildings, especially for a town of just 14,000 people. Around mid-century though. the railroad made way for cars & motels, & The Queen, a fantastic Mission Revival example, was left alone & neglected...
Now La Castaeda Hotel is coming back...From the Santa Fe New Mexican:
When the Castaeda opened along the tracks in Las Vegas, New Mexico, in 1898 it offered travelers on the Santa Fe Railway an excuse to get off the train and stay in and explore a region of the Southwest few had seen, said Lesley Poling-Kempes, author of the book, The Harvey Girls: Women Who Opened the West.
"The high and mighty dined alongside the hoi polloi in the hotels restaurant and bar, enjoying the famous Harvey House hospitality. The hotels 40 rooms were invariably filled with politicians, celebrities, soldiers and travelers looking to stop for the night before moving on, be it northeast out of New Mexico or south toward Albuquerque and then points west.
Las Vegas, New Mexico, is the great undiscovered town of the Southwest, with more remarkable history and architecture than Taos or Albuquerque, said entrepreneur Allan Affeldt, who is restoring the long-shuttered hotel to its former glory. And La Castaeda Hotel, where Teddy Roosevelt and his Rough Riders held their first reunion in 1899 around the corner from Doc Hollidays saloon, is the crown jewel.
Affeldt believes that once he reopens La Castaeda — hopefully in the summer of 2019 — it will once again make Las Vegas a must stop for travelers who love history and design.
I took the scenic two hour drive up to Las Vegas for a nice day-trip, to partake in the Places with a Past Historic Homes & Buildings Tour,a self-guided walking tour with docents at each location. the second-to-last stop was to The Rawlins Building. The last stop was La Castaeda Hotel by the railroad tracks.
