Taos · Taos Plaza – south side
Hotel La Fonda de Taos
The 1880 Columbian Hotel on Taos Plaza, reopened with two added stories as La Fonda in 1937, with copies of D.H. Lawrence's 'forbidden' paintings.
- Built
- 1937The Karavas brothers bought the Columbian Hotel (opened 1880) in the late 1920s, added a second and third story to the Pueblo Revival building and opened it as La Fonda in 1937 (hotel history page). The hotel says a hotel has stood on the site since about 1820.
- Style
- Pueblo Revival
- Type
- Boutique hotel
- Area
- Taos Plaza – south side
- Credentials
- Inside a National Register historic district
The story
Aloysius Liebert opened the Columbian Hotel and bar on the south side of Taos Plaza in 1880; Robert Pooler, who bought it in 1900, was shot dead in its bar in 1909. Members of the Taos Society of Artists met there and hung paintings in the lobby. Greek immigrants James and John Karavas leased its restaurant in 1922, bought the hotel by the end of the decade, added two stories and opened La Fonda in 1937. Saki Karavas ran it from 1953 to 1996 and bought D.H. Lawrence’s “forbidden” paintings in 1956; reproductions hang in a gallery off the lobby.
Good to know
- Parking: on-site paid
- No pets
- Address: 108 South Plaza, Taos, NM 87571
Sources (2)
Last verified October 2026. Details change; confirm with the inn before you book.