Designed by Colorado architect Isaac Rapp in what became known as the Pueblo Revival style and opened in 1922, the La Fonda (which means “the inn” in Spanish) helped inspire the city of Santa Fe to pass a 1957 ordinance requiring buildings at the city center to use a similar style. Unfortunately, the hotel almost immediately went bankrupt, so the Santa Fe Railway bought it in 1925 and leased it to Fred Harvey.
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With the introduction of Indian Detours, which set off from the La Fonda, the hotel boomed and the railway almost immediately expanded it to 190 rooms, hiring local architect John Gaw Meem to design the addition. The interior designs were done by Mary Colter, and traces of her work can still be seen today. (Contrary to some claims, Colter did not design the exterior.)
The photo on the cover of this menu is credited to “A. Devaney Inc.” The A. Devaney Photography Agency was a New York City firm specializing in commercial photography in the 1940s through the 1960s. While this cover photo is just fine, I have to wonder why Fred Harvey went to a New York photo agency for it rather than a local or western photographer.
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An earlier hotel on the same site had burned in 1912. Despite the sign on the above postcard, which was added by the postcard company and does not appear in the black-and-white photo on which the card was based, the hotel was once called the United States Hotel and later the Exchange Hotel. Locals may have informally referred to it as La Fonda Americana, but by the time it burned in a 1912 fire, it was just a butcher shop.
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With about 50 guest rooms, the hotel originally designed by Isaac Rapp was much smaller than today’s version. The above postcard must have been issued between 1922 and 1925, when Santa Fe took over the hotel.
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The Rapp version of the hotel is visible in the foreground of the above postcard but the much larger Meem edition is in the background. This card is the only one of the three that was actually issued by Fred Harvey and was previously shown here a few months ago.