Hotel Gilder
Roswell, New Mexico

Description: Hotel Gilder
Other Names: Nickson Hotel,
Address: East Fifth and N.W. corner of Virginia Avenue, Roswell, Chaves County, New Mexico
Type: hotel
Original Client: Nickson Hotel Co., Inc.
Date: ca. 1929
Condition: demolished ca. 1965

Architect or Firm: probably Gustavus A. Trost
Associated Architect or Firm: Trost & Trost
Contractors: Ramey Brothers of El Paso
Dimensions and Orientation: 4 stories
Budget/Cost: $100,000.

Foundation: probably concrete
Wall Materials: plastered
Roofing Materials: flat with Spanish tile coping
Other Materials Used: tile water table for retail spaces; plaster or cast stone ornament
Remodeling and Additions: 1928 an addition of 50 rooms was being added to the present Gilder Hotel

Location of Drawings: El Paso Public Library: Bradt 115, rendering of front elevation, privately printed postcard
Location of Documentary Photographs:

Bibliography: (1)Roswell City Directory, (Hudspeth Directory Company) 1924 and 1930, advertises and illustrates the hotel.
(2) El Paso Herald, April 6, 1928 page 5 speaks of a building addition of 50 rooms
(3) El Paso Evening Post, April 6, 1928 page 15

Remarks: The only evidence we have for this hotel is a rendering in the Bradt collection (above) and listings in two Roswell City Directories. The 1930 entry advertises the hotel as Formerly the Gilder, and further states that there are 125 outside rooms and 70 baths, whereas the 1924 City Directory advertised 55 modern rooms. The work performed by Trost & Trost appears to be an addition and to make the facade uniform, while the balcony side of the original hotel appears to have remained unchanged.
The hotel was located near the railroad, and was demolished when the railroad no longer served Roswell.

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