Gadsden Hotel
Douglas, Arizona
Description: Gadsden Hotel
Other Names: None
Address: 1046 G Avenue, intersection of 11th and G Streets, Douglas, Cochise County, Arizona
Type: hotel
Original Client: Douglas Investment Company
Historic Inventory: National Register number 76000371
Date: 1906; opened November, 1907
Condition: extant, but restored after fire of 1928
Architect or Firm: Henry C. Trost
Associated Architect or Firm: Trost & Trost
Contractors: Otto P. Krueger of El Paso; March 15, 1906 C.O. Ellis, of the Bank of Douglas on behalf of the Gadsden company awarded the contract to O.P Krueger of El Paso. Work begin March 25, 1906
Dimensions and Orientation: four stories and a full basement; 100 x 134 feet total hotel floor space
Budget/Cost: $185,000
Foundation:
Wall Materials: yellow pressed brick, terra cotta trimmings
Roofing Materials:
Other Materials Used: lobby finished in marble and mosaic tile; tile floors
Remodeling and Additions: addition, n.d.(plans 2), alteration July, 1927,rebuilt after fire of 1928.
Present Owner: Henry and Robin Brekhus 2011 to present, Peak Hospitality 2013 (managing hotel), 2016 Angel and Florencio Lopez
Location of Drawings: (1)El Paso Public Library: U-2, 35 original plans, ink on linen, pages 2 through 36, dated June 12, 1906; side, front and rear elevations, cross sections, decorative details. See also Remodeling and Additions, above.
(2) El Paso Public Library: (I-6) one original plan on tissue
Location of Documentary Photographs: El Paso Public Library: Ponsford 252, 254, 257 through 266; Aultman, A5806
Bibliography: (1) Trost & Trost, Architects (El Paso: Trost & Trost, 1907), page 29,rendering of side view; page 54, rendering of front elevation, materials given in caption; page 55, photograph of terra cotta ornament; page 71, advertisement identifies Otto P. Kroeger as contractor
(2) Lloyd C. and June F. Engelbrecht, Henry C. Trost: Architect of the Southwest (El Paso: El Paso Public Library Association, 1981), pages 85 through 88; figures 62, 63, 64, 65, drawings, detail for ornament; figure 66, photograph of lobby; figure 67, front, first Gadsden Hotel
(3) Plans for Gadsen, Bisbee Daily Review, March 30, 1906, page 8: Douglas, Ariz., and Mar. 29. The preliminary sketches of the new hotel building for Douglas were submitted to the stockholders present today. Sketches were submitted by Trost & Trost of El Paso; J.A. Holden, of this city [i.e., Douglas], and W. M. Randall, of St. Louis.
(4) Prominent Contractor Here, Bisbee Daily Review, April, 7, 1906, page 2: Otto P. Kroeger, of El Paso and San Antonio, Texas, was in Douglas this morning. He will probably bid on the new Gadsden hotel.
(5) The Hotel Gadsden, Bisbee Daily Review, April 18, 1906 page 2, and article dated lined Douglas, April 16, reports on the arrival of H. C. Trost the previous afternoon with the completed plans, reports that the contract has not yet been set, but estimates the budget at $150,000, and describes the hotel in detail.
6) Copper City Booming, Says W. H. Brophy, Bisbee Daily Review, April 29, 1906, page 3: Speaking of the hotel, he said that plans for the foundation of the building were expected to arrive every day [sic] when the excavating work would begin at once.
(7) Arizona Good Roads Association Illustrated Road Maps and Tour Book (Prescott, Arizona: Arizona Good Roads Association, 1913; reprinted, Phoenix: Arizona Highways Magazine, 1987), pages 59 and 133, photographic general views
(8) El Paso Herald, March 15, 1906 O.P Krueger Gets Hotel Contract
(9) Lloyd C. and June F. Engelbrecht, Henry C. Trost: Architect of the Southwest(El Paso: El Paso Public Library Association, 1981) page 85-88
Remarks: On March 14, 1906 the contract was awarded by C.O. Ellis to Otto P. Kruger of El Paso. On April 18, 1906, excavation began on the new hotel. The new building was to be completed by July 1, 1907.
The main entrance off G Street and ladies entrance on Eleventh street. The rotunda extends through the two stories, a well as the dining room. A orchestra loft was located on a elevated balcony between the rotunda and the dining room. In the evening guest were able to enjoy the roof garden which front to G Avenue via the second story lobby.
The hotel would have 100 sleeping rooms, with one electric elevators guest and the other exclusively for baggages.
The investors in the hotel are J.S. Douglas, W.H. Brophy, W.M. Damsons, S.W. French, C.A.Overlock, E.R. Pirtle, C.O Ellis and others.
Art glass murals, white marble stairways and marble columns decorated with gold leaf were in the lobby of the hotel.The hotel burned in 1928 but was rebuilt and restored in 1929 by Trost & Trost and Mr. and Mrs. F.O. Mackey became the new owners.
Prepared for the El Paso Public Library by Lloyd C. and June F. Engelbrecht under a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, 1990.