Santa Fe ยท The Plaza & downtown
La Fonda on the Plaza
Isaac Hamilton Rapp's 1922 hotel on the Plaza, a Fred Harvey house until 1968, on a corner the hotel says has held an inn since the 1600s.
- Built
- 1922The hotel says the structure guests use today was built in 1922; HHA says it "dates back to 1922" and that Isaac Hamilton Rapp designed it after the Santa Fe Builders Corporation raised about $200,000 in bonds in 1920. After the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway bought it in 1926 and leased it to the Fred Harvey Company, John Gaw Meem and designer Mary Colter reworked it as a Harvey House. The City of Santa Fe survey dates the building 1920-1950. An inn has stood on the site since the 1600s by the hotel's and HHA's account.
- Style
- Pueblo Revival (HHA describes Rapp's design as Spanish Colonial Revival)
- Architect
- Isaac Hamilton Rapp (1922); John Gaw Meem with designer Mary Elizabeth Jane Colter (Harvey-era remodel)
- Type
- Grand hotel
- Area
- The Plaza & downtown
- Credentials
- Inside a National Register historic district; Local landmark; Historic Hotels of America member
The story
La Fonda and HHA say an inn has stood on this corner of the Plaza since the city’s first years, and that William Becknell’s Santa Fe Trail party stayed there in 1821. Under U.S. rule it became the United States Hotel and later the Exchange Hotel; HHA says Chief Justice John P. Slough was shot there by legislator William Rynerson, who was acquitted. HHA says the old inn burned in 1912, and the present hotel, designed by Isaac Hamilton Rapp, opened in 1922. The Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway bought it in 1926 and the Fred Harvey Company ran it until 1968, when Sam and Ethel Ballen bought it; a group led by Jennifer Kimball later bought it from the Ballen heirs and restored it.
The ghost story
Guests have reported apparitions at the hotel, including one thought to be Chief Justice John P. Slough of the Territorial Supreme Court, who was shot in the lobby of its predecessor, the Exchange Hotel, in 1867. Lore also tells of a distraught salesman who jumped into the hotel's well after losing a card game; guests claim to see his form emerging from the fountain.
Source: www.historichotels.org
Good to know
- Parking: on-site paid
- Pets welcome
- Address: 100 E San Francisco St, Santa Fe, NM 87501
Things to do
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Sources (3)
Last verified October 2026. Details change; confirm with the inn before you book.