Owner of La Posada Purchases La Castaneda Hotel
Some rescue animals, other choose to rescue pieces of history. One such person is Allan Affeldt, famous for the spectacular renovation of one of the historic Harvey House hotels – La Posada in Arizona; recently he announced the sale closing of historic Castaneda Hotel, another gem built by renowned immigrant Fred Harvey.
By Anca Gagiuc, Associate Editor
Some rescue animals, other choose to rescue pieces of history. One such person is Allan Affeldt, famous for the spectacular renovation of one of the historic Harvey House hotels – La Posada in Winslow, Ariz. Recently Affeldt announced his purchase of the historic Castaneda Hotel.
Originally built by renowned immigrant Fred Harvey, the hotel has been on the market for the last 10 years, and for five years its listing agent has been Santa Fe’s DeAnne Ottoway of Sotheby’s. Although prohibited from making public the selling price, Ottoway told Albuquerque Journal a few months ago that Sotheby’s listed it at $450,000. Details about the final transaction have not been disclosed.
The hotel had opened on Jan. 1st, 1899 and represented the first of a new generation of grand Harvey House hotels. Its architectural style, Mission Revival, managed by California architects Frederic Louis Roehrig and A. Reinsch, was at that time new to New Mexico. The hotel on Railroad Avenue “sits a few miles from Route 66, but has become a common side trip for travelers exploring the 1926-37 alignment of the old road that looped to Santa Fe,” the route66news website says. In 1948 the hotel closed.
La Posada and La Castaneda are sister buildings on the National Register of Historic Places. The $12 million renovation invested in La Posada turned it into what readers of Conde Nast magazine voted as theseventh best hotel in the Southwest. Renovating the Castaneda “would be catalytic for Las Vegas with its historic buildings and its amazing downtown,” Affeldt said in February.
Photo courtesy of Harvey Houses.
