This magnificent property, designed by Mary Colter, the famed Grand Canyon architect, is the last of the great Harvey Houses of the 1930s. Enjoy strolling the gardens of the La Posada Hotel, while viewing this outstanding example of southwestern architecture. Colter is famous for her magnificent buildings at the Grand Canyon - but she considered La Posada her masterpiece.
In the 19th Century, the region around Winslow was settled by Basque ranchers from Northern Spain. For La Posada's 'history' Colter wanted to design a grand hacienda, the sort of home that might have been built if there had been a timber and cattle baron for Northern Arizona. The home would be large and rambling with many additions as the family grew and the business prospered. There would be a heavy influence of Mexico and Spain - the family roots. There would be patron saints and hacienda gardens. It would be enormous - eventually growing to 72,000 square feet in the main house alone; the home of a fabulously wealthy and cultured Spanish Don.
La Posada opened May 15, 1930 as a Harvey House Hotel just after the Stock Market crash of 1929, and was only open for 27 years. In 1957 the hotel closed to the public. The museum-quality furnishings were auctioned off in 1959. Several times over the ensuing 40 years the building was nearly demolished, as recently as 1994 when the railway, who had occupied the building, announced plans to move out for good. The National Trust for Historic Preservation found out about La Posada's peril and put it on their endangered list where this national treasure is being restored to it's former glory.