Hotel Andaluz
Near Albuquerque, New Mexico
Conrad Hilton grew up in San Antonio, New Mexico, ran his first hotel in Cisco, Texas, and by nineteen thirty-nine had ambitions large enough to build a hotel here in Albuquerque. It was the tallest building in New Mexico at the time, ten stories of Spanish Colonial Revival architecture, the first hotel in the state with air conditioning, and the first Hilton outside Texas. Hilton eventually sold it, and the building passed through several names and owners, closing and reopening in rough shape more than once.
Developer Gary Goodman bought it in two thousand five, poured thirty million dollars into a restoration, and reopened it in two thousand nine as the Hotel Andaluz, which means Andalusian, a nod to the Spanish roots of New Mexico. The lobby's exposed wood vigas and Saltillo tile are a corrective to the building's long drift from its original character.
