- City:
- Raton, NM
- Site Type:
- Art Works, Murals
- New Deal Agencies:
- Work Relief Programs, Works Progress Administration (WPA)
- Artists:
- Manville Chapman, Willie Warder
- Site Survival:
- No Longer Extant
Description
“This private old hotel has a variety of art work in lobby areas including large murals created by Manville Chapman in 1939 and 6 others done later by his student, Willie Warder, another WPA Project artist. The hotel housed the original WPA Project office for the region and was the location of WPA-supported art classes.
This historic hotel is reminiscent of a period when railroad and mining workers boarded in hotel rooms routinely. Paintings and memorabilia are fascinating.
The El Portal Hotel suffered a devastating fire in 2009, losing the northern part of the hotel. Until renovations on the remaining rooms are completed, the hotel is closed.”
-Santa Fe Trail
Sadly the hotel burned to the ground completely in November 2012.
Source notes
"El Portal Hotel/WPA Project," Santa Fe Trail, National Scenic Byway
<https://www.santafetrailnm.org/site126.html>
"New Deal Sites in New Mexico," Atlas of Historic New Mexico Maps, New Mexico Humanities Council.
<https://atlas.nmhum.org/atlas.php?gmap=42>
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Andy Robertson
Zeemarie
The hotel burned to the ground in November 2012. All artwork is gone.
That is very sad. The best coverage I found on the fire is on this blog.
If the El Portal was a two-story yellow building, I may have a photo of this hotel, taken in 1981. I’m not able to load it to this site though.