Gadsden Hotel
National Register of Historic Places

Gadsden Hotel

Douglas, Cochise County, Arizona
Listed
July 29, 1976
Type
Building
Period
Civil War
Ref No.
76000371

About this property

The Gadsden Hotel is a historic hotel in Douglas, Arizona. It was listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places in 1976. The hotel is owned by Bright Brains Hospitality The hotel opened in 1907. Named for the Gadsden Purchase, the stately five-story, 160-room hotel became a home away from home for cattlemen, ranchers, miners, and businessmen. The hotel was leveled by fire and rebuilt in 1929 by architect from El Paso Henry Trost. The Gadsden's spacious main lobby is majestically set with a solid white Italian marble staircase and four soaring marble columns. A stained glass window mural of the Southwest Desert by 5th generation artisan Ralph Baker, who studied under Louis Comfort Tiffany, extends forty-two feet across one wall of the massive mezzanine. A large oil painting by Audley Dean Nicols is just below the Tiffany-style window. The hotel's vaulted stained glass skylights run the full length of the lobby. The hotel is said to be haunted, especially in Room 333, and has been in "ghost" shows on television, such as an episode of Sightings in 1995. The Gadsden Hotel has also been in several movies, including The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean with Paul Newman, Terminal Velocity with Charlie Sheen and Nastassja Kinski, and Ruby Jean and Joe with Tom Selleck. The Gadsden was featured on Hotel Impossible on August 26, 2013. The hotel was turned over to a management company which renovated the first floor in 2013 and completed renovation of second-floor guest rooms in March 2014. Third-floor rooms were "dressed up" but not fully renovated and are now marketed as the "Historic Rooms". Thornton Wilder, whose overnight stay in May 1962 for a car repair extended to two months—he liked both the hotel and the area. Effie Anderson Smith, known during her lifetime as The Dean of Arizona Women Artists, stayed at the Gadsden Hotel frequently during the 1930s. She resided in the hotel during the 1940s and completed several paintings there, including a view of the Swisshelms as seen from her room at the Gadsden. One of her paintings of the Grand Canyon hung in the lobby of the Gadsden Hotel for 11 years.

Location

1046 G. Ave.
Douglas, Cochise County, Arizona
31.34551, -109.55466

Categories

COMMERCEARCHITECTURE
National Register nomination ›
Sources

Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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Nearby Historic Sites

Douglas Historic District
Listed
0 mi
US Post Office and Customs House-Douglas Main
Industrial
0.1 mi
El Paso and Southwestern Railroad YMCA
Colonial
0.2 mi
El Paso and Southwestern Railroad Passenger Depot-Douglas
Industrial
0.3 mi
Douglas Underpass
Industrial
0.3 mi

Nearby Battles

Capture of Geronimo — Sierra Madre Campaign
1886Indian Wars
10.1 mi

Questions about this property

When was Gadsden Hotel listed on the National Register?

Gadsden Hotel was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on July 29, 1976.

What type of historic resource is Gadsden Hotel?

Gadsden Hotel is classified as a building in the National Register of Historic Places.

What is the period of significance for Gadsden Hotel?

The period of significance for Gadsden Hotel is recorded as the civil_war era.

Can I research the history near Gadsden Hotel?

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