El Paisano Hotel | |
Location | 207 N Highland Marfa, Texas |
---|---|
Coordinates | 30°18′44″N104°1′19″W / 30.31222°N 104.02194°W |
Area | less than one acre |
Built | 1928 |
Architect | Trost & Trost |
Architectural style | Mission/Spanish Revival, Spanish-Baroque |
NRHP reference No. | 78002973 [1] |
RTHL No. | 1422 |
Significant dates | |
Added to NRHP | August 1, 1978 |
Designated RTHL | 1979 |
El Paisano Hotel [2] is a historic hotel located in Marfa, Texas, United States. The hotel was designed by Trost & Trost and opened in 1930. The hotel may be best known as the location headquarters for the cast and crew of the film Giant (1956) for six weeks in the summer of 1955 [3] The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places on August 1, 1978.
The El Paisano Hotel was built by Charles N. Bassett of El Paso. It was designed by Henry C. Trost of Trost & Trost of El Paso, Texas in a Spanish Revival style. The hotel is a "U" shape plan with a fifty by fifty foot courtyard with a large fountain in the center. [4]
The main customers of the El Paisano during the 1930s and 1940s were area cattle ranchers who came to Marfa to buy and sell their herds, and tourists who came to West Texas for the benefits of the dry desert air. [3]
In 1955, George Stevens and a Warner Bros film crew came to Presidio County to film Giant. The El Paisano Hotel served as base of operations for the months during which time the film was being shot in the surrounding countryside. Stevens stayed at the El Paisano Hotel as did the 300 plus members of the cast and crew who included: James Dean, Elizabeth Taylor, Rock Hudson, Sal Mineo, Chill Wills, and Jane Withers among others.
Gary and Carolyn Rogers visited from Houston and bought the property in 1970, moving their children, Cynthia Rogers Williams, Melissa Rogers Smith, and Buddy Rogers into the hotel for several years until purchasing a Trost-designed home in Marfa. The hotel enjoyed a thriving restaurant and bar business, and their children enjoyed pottery and piano lessons from two retired ladies who lived permanently in the hotel, as well as parties by the pool. The piano is still in use at the hotel today off the lobby. The Rogers sold the property to Jack Brown of El Paisano Properties Corp. in the late 1970s after Mr. Rogers became a ranch broker.
El Paisano Properties Corp. converted the hotel's 65 rooms into 9 timeshare condominiums. Although 800 timeshare units were sold, the owners eventually abandoned the business and Presidio County foreclosed on the property for back taxes. Joe and Lanna Duncan purchased the property at auction for $185,000 in March 2001. [3] After three years of renovations, the hotel reopened with 33 rooms and suites available for the public.
Presidio County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 census, its population was 6,131. Its county seat is Marfa. The county was created in 1850 and later organized in 1875. Presidio County is in the Trans-Pecos region of West Texas and is named for the border settlement of Presidio del Norte. It is on the Rio Grande, which forms the Mexican border.
Marfa is a city in the high desert of the Trans-Pecos in far West Texas, between the Davis Mountains and Big Bend National Park. It is the county seat of Presidio County, and its population as of the 2010 United States Census was 1,981. The city was founded in the early 1880s as a water stop; the population peaked in the 1930s and has continued to decline each decade since. Today, Marfa is a tourist destination and a major center for minimalist art. Attractions include Building 98, the Chinati Foundation, artisan shops, historical architecture, a classic Texas town square, modern art installments, art galleries, and the Marfa lights.
Trost & Trost Architects & Engineers, often known as Trost & Trost, was an architectural firm based in El Paso, Texas. The firm's chief designer was Henry Charles Trost, who was born in Toledo, Ohio, in 1860. Trost moved from Chicago to Tucson, Arizona in 1899 and to El Paso in 1903. He partnered with Robert Rust to form Trost & Rust. Rust died in 1905 and later that year Trost formed the firm of Trost & Trost with his twin brother Gustavus Adolphus Trost, also an architect, who had joined the firm as a structural engineer. Between 1903 and Henry Trost's death on September 19, 1933, the firm designed hundreds of buildings in the El Paso area and in other Southwestern cities, including Albuquerque, Phoenix, Tucson, and San Angelo.
The O. T. Bassett Tower is an Art Deco skyscraper located at 303 Texas Avenue in Downtown El Paso, Texas. It was built by Charles N. Bassett, who named it in honor of his father. The tower was designed by Trost & Trost and completed in 1930, making it one of Henry Trost's last commissions. It was briefly the tallest building in the city but was surpassed later the same year by the Hilton Hotel. The Bassett Tower is 217 feet tall and has 15 stories, with setbacks at the tenth and thirteenth floors. It is faced with tan brick veneer and adorned with stone and terra cotta decorative elements, including a sculpted face over the main entrance which is believed to be that of Trost himself.
The Plaza Hotel, formerly the Hilton Hotel, is a landmark skyscraper located at 106 Mills Avenue in El Paso, Texas, USA.
The Anson Mills Building is a historic building located at 303 North Oregon Street in El Paso, Texas. The building stands on the original site of the 1832 Ponce de León ranch. Anson Mills hired Henry C. Trost of the Trost and Trost architectural firm to design and construct the building. Trost was the area's foremost pioneer in the use of reinforced concrete. Built in 1910–1911, the building was only the second concrete-frame skyscraper in the United States, and one of the largest all-concrete buildings. At 145 feet, the 12-story Mills Building was the tallest building in El Paso when completed. The architectural firm of Trost and Trost moved its offices to the building upon completion, where they remained until 1920. The Mills family sold the building in 1965. The building stands on a corner site opposite San Jacinto Plaza, with a gracefully curved street facade that wraps around the south and east sides. Like many of Trost's designs, the Anson Mills Building's overall form and strong verticality, as well as details of the ornamentation and cornice, are reminiscent of the Chicago School work of Louis Sullivan.
Paisano may refer to:
Sunset Heights is a historic area in El Paso, Texas; which has existed since the latter part of the 1890s. Many wealthy residents have had their houses and mansions built on this hill. Although some buildings have been renovated to their former glory, many have been neglected and have deteriorated. An organization, the Sunset Heights Improvement Association helps neighbors on a fixed income to manage home maintenance and also sponsors an annual tour.
Shafter is a ghost town in Presidio County, Texas. The Texas Attorney General's Office gives a population of 11 as of the 2000 Census. It was named in honor of General William R. Shafter, who at one point commanded the nearby Fort Davis. As of 2012, at least one silver mine, La Mina Grande, has been reopened by Aurcana Corporation.
Hotel Paso del Norte is a historic 351-room hotel. It is located in El Paso, Texas, less than one mile north of the international border with Mexico. The hotel originally opened on Thanksgiving Day 1912, and was designed by Trost & Trost. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places on January 5, 1979. It recently underwent a complete and total renovation, and reopened its doors as part of Marriott's Autograph Collection on October 8, 2020.
The Presidio County Courthouse is located in Marfa, Presidio County in the U.S. state of Texas. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1977. It was designated a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark in 1964.
Cibolo Creek Ranch is a historic place in Presidio County, Texas, United States. Established as a cattle ranch prior to the Civil War, it has been used in modern times for hunting and a shooting location for the movie industry. It includes a fort called El Fortin del Cibolo which has been renovated as a luxury hotel featuring watchtowers and three-foot-thick adobe walls.
The McKinley County Courthouse in Gallup, New Mexico, was built in 1938–39. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1989.
The Hotel Cortez is a historic eleven-story building in El Paso, Texas.
The State National Bank is a historic building in El Paso, Texas. It was built in 1921 for the State National Bank, El Paso's oldest bank founded four decades earlier. It was built on the site of a former building for the same bank completed in 1881, which was El Paso's "first real building." The 1921 building was designed by Trost & Trost, and its construction cost $165,000. With "the latest technological developments", it cost $250,000. The interior was a single lofty room with roof supported by steel girders that eliminated need for interior columns. The bank moved into the building in January 1922. It was expanded by renting adjacent property 10 years later, which was annexed permanently in 1942. It was further expanded to the south in 1948.
The White House Department Store and Hotel McCoy is a historic building in El Paso, Texas. It was built in 1912, and designed in the Chicago School style by architect Henry C. Trost of Trost & Trost. The store itself was co-founded in 1900 by Felix Brunschwig and three of his nephews: Myrtil, Gaston and Arthur Clobentz. In 1904, it was incorporated as Felix Brunchswig & Co. The building was remodelled in 1946-1949 for 1 million dollars. It has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since September 24, 1980.
The Hassayampa Inn, long known as the Hassayampa Hotel, in Prescott, Arizona, is a landmark on Gurley Street which was built in 1927. It was designed by architects Trost & Trost.