An 1893 Italianate grand hotel built to mirror the Villa de Medici, opposite the world's largest hot springs pool, host to Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and Molly Brown, and still the most consequential address in town.
"Walter Devereux built the Hotel Colorado in 1893 to argue that the high Rockies deserved a Medici-scale guest house, and the building has been quietly winning that argument ever since. Two stays a year is how the regulars handle it."
The Hotel Colorado opened on June 10, 1893, at 526 Pine Street, directly opposite the bathhouse and the Yampah spring pools. Walter Devereux, an Aspen mining magnate, commissioned the building from the New York firm Boring and Tilton (the same partnership that later won the Ellis Island competition) at a construction cost of $850,000 in 1891 dollars, with explicit instructions to read as the Villa de Medici relocated to the Rocky Mountains. The result is a six-storey Italianate block in red sandstone and brick, with twin campanile towers, an arcaded loggia, a 100-foot Italian garden courtyard fountain at the centre, and the longest single-piece pressed-tin lobby ceiling in the American West.
There are 130 guestrooms and suites distributed across the original 1893 structure and a 1904 west wing. Standard king and queen rooms run 22 to 30 square metres; signature and family suites stretch to 60 square metres in the corner towers, with multiple windows and the property's best mountain views. The decor leans high Victorian without lapsing into period cliche, dark woods, period-appropriate wallpapers, traditional drapery, refurbished bathrooms with subway tile and modern fixtures. Every room has been updated in the last decade for plumbing, climate control, and the electronic key system; the building's underlying bones are kept honest. The Presidential Suite, used by Theodore Roosevelt in 1905 during a three-week bear-hunting stay and again by William Howard Taft, occupies the south corner of the third floor and remains the property's signature booking.
The lobby and dining offer are the building's set pieces. The lobby holds the original fireplace, hand-carved oak panelling, and the fountain in the central court (filled with greenery in winter, water in summer). Baron's Restaurant runs a Colorado regional menu of trout, elk, bison, and seasonal mountain vegetables, with a deep American wine list weighted toward the Western Slope. The Devereux Room handles the property's banquet and ballroom business and seats 220 for the larger weddings. Coffee and breakfast service runs in the loggia overlooking the springs.
The hotel was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1977 and has been continuously operating since 1893, one of the small handful of American grand hotels of its era that has never closed for more than a renovation season. The position, directly across Sixth Street from the Glenwood Hot Springs Pool, is the property's defining commercial fact: guests cross the pedestrian bridge for the bathhouse, return for breakfast, and treat the two buildings as a single ecosystem. Hotel Colorado is a member of Historic Hotels of America and consistently sits in the top tier of Colorado's heritage properties.
For an anniversary built around the historic building rather than a contemporary suite product, the Hotel Colorado is the booking. Take the Presidential or one of the tower suites for a milestone year; the south corner gives the best lit-fountain view at night. Pre-arrange dinner at Baron's and a morning bath at the springs and the trip composes itself.
The family-suite product is the Hotel Colorado's strongest middle-market offering. The two-room family suites sleep four to six and sit close to the elevator bank; the across-the-street walk to the hot springs pool is short enough to make the daily bath a routine rather than a logistics exercise. Older children pick up on the history; the Roosevelt bear-hunt story holds attention for one breakfast.
Glenwood Springs is a mineral-bathing destination first and the Hotel Colorado is its on-the-spring address. Combine a midweek stay with multi-day passes to the Hot Springs Pool and the Yampah vapor caves (a five-minute walk uphill); the room rate plus pool access lands cleanly inside most spa-week budgets and the geothermal water does more for tight backs than the standard hotel spa treatment menu would.
526 Pine Street
Glenwood Springs, CO 81601
United States
Two-minute walk across the Sixth Street pedestrian bridge to the Glenwood Hot Springs Pool; ninety minutes by car from Aspen
130 rooms and suites
Standard kings and queens from $195/night
Signature and family suites from $325/night
Presidential and tower suites from $545/night
Off-peak shoulder rates as low as $165
Check-in: 4:00 PM
Check-out: 11:00 AM
Opened 1893; Boring & Tilton architects
National Register of Historic Places, 1977
Italian garden courtyard with central fountain
Twin campanile towers
Baron's Restaurant (Colorado regional)
Devereux Room ballroom for events
Walk-to-springs position
Historic Hotels of America member
Complimentary WiFi
From $195/night. Presidential and tower suites book three to four months ahead for July and August peak; family suites are easier on shoulder dates. Mid-week rates in November and early December are the property's quietest moments.
Check Availability →The 107-room lodge attached to the world's largest hot springs pool, the alternative for guests who want the bath on the property.
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New openings, special offers, and the week’s best value suites. One email a week, no noise.