When the La Veta Hotel opened on April 15, 1884, it was advertised as “Gunnison’s Pride, the Palatial Resort of the Rocky Mountain Region,” and, indeed, it was a spectacular hotel in a spectacular setting. Only the finest materials were used in the building’s construction, and inside, an impressive black walnut, oak, and ash stair-way rose into a 40-by-60-foot rotunda topped with a glass skylight. In 1912, hotel management started a promotion that offered free meals to guests on any day that the sun refused to shine, and they kept track of the total under the clock in the lobby. At the end of thirty years they gave away only twenty meals.

By the 1940s the need for such a large and impressive structure in Gunnison had long passed. Local civic organizations worked diligently to find investors to rehabilitate the hotel in the 1940s, but failed in their attempts, and the building sold for $8,350 in 1944. It was quickly razed to the first story, and the fine lumber, glass and metal fixtures sold. The single-level apartments that remained were later knocked down to make way for new homes.

• Gunnison, Gunnison County

• Date of Construction: 1884

• Architect: Unknown

• Date of Demolition: 1943

• Replaced by: apartments and new homes