Montezuma Castle (hotel) 2870368 121130542 2007-04-08T04:56:20Z Hmains 508734 /*refine cat The '''Montezuma Castle''' is a 90,000 square foot, 400 room [[Queen Anne Style architecture|Queen Anne]]-style hotel building erected just northwest of the city of [[Las Vegas, New Mexico]] in [[1886]] (the site was at the time called "Las Vegas Hot Springs," but is now known as "[[Montezuma, New Mexico|Montezuma]]"). The current castle is actually the third on the site, the first two (dating to [[1881]] and [[1885]]) were the first buildings in [[New Mexico]] to have electric lighting, and they both burned down. [[Image:Mcastle2003.jpg|thumb|315px|The Montezuma Castle, on the campus of the [[Armand Hammer United World College of the American West|Armand Hammer United World College]], May 2003]] The castle was originally constructed by the [[Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad]] as a luxury hotel, capitalizing on the natural hot springs on the site. These were widely thought to ease the suffering of people with [[tuberculosis]], "chronic rheumatism, gout, biliary, and renal calculi."<ref name="harpers1890">"The Las Vegas Hot Springs," Harpers Weekly, June 28, 1890</ref> The nearby [[Gallinas Creek]] also provided excellent trout fishing. Guests included [[Theodore Roosevelt]], [[Rutherford B. Hayes]], [[Ulysses S. Grant]], [[William Tecumseh Sherman]], [[Jesse James]], and [[Emperor Hirohito]] of Japan. "The visitors to the Hot Springs represent every part of the continent of America, and nearly every tourist from abroad who crosses the continent by the southerly route stops there for a time."<ref name="harpers1890"/> In addition to the natural recreation available in Montezuma, the hotel provided bowling alleys and billiard rooms.<ref name="harpers1890"/> The building was designed and construction was overseen by the great Chicago architects [[Burnham and Root]]. It operated as a hotel until [[1903]]. It was then briefly owned by the [[YMCA]], then operated as a Baptist college from [[1922]] until [[1930]]. The [[Southern Baptist]] Church sold it to the Catholic Church in 1937, and it was operated as a seminary for Mexican [[Jesuits]] until [[1972]]. The building then sat empty for a decade and was subject to significant vandalism and decay. The Jesuits made a little money renting the building out as the set for the low budget horror movie [[The Evil (movie)|The Evil]] in 1978. In [[1981]], the castle was purchased by industrialist and philanthropist [[Armand Hammer]] for use as a [[United World College]]. In 1997, it was placed on the list of [[America's Most Endangered Historic Places]] by the [[National Trust for Historic Preservation]], along with landmarks like [[Ellis Island]]. In [[2000]] and [[2001]], the school invested over $12 million restoring the building, and it has won awards as one of the great historical restorations in the United States. It is also the first historic property west of the Mississippi to be designated one of "America's Treasures" by the White House Millennium Council. == References == <references/> == External links == National Trust for Historical Preservation [http://www.nationaltrust.org/11Most/list.asp?i=130] <!-- Categories --> [[Category:Hotels in New Mexico]]