we really wish we had known about this place before we hit ouray.
never having been to this gorgeous mountain village before, we made reservations at a best western, figuring that would be fine. the best western WAS fine.
suddenly, fine seemed like not good enough when we--by chance--walked into the lobby of this 1891 hotel.
talk about stepping back into time. the place is authentic, charming, interesting, amazing.
best of all is the FAMOUS face in the barroom floor, the mysterious and legendary portrait of Juanita. which we have heard about for years but never seen. suddenly, there she was, and the owner, Greg, appearing to give us free Starbuck's and her story. (Of the supposed six Juanita portraits, the only other one we can trace is in Center City, CO.)
What a find!
There are two suites with authentic, handpainted french wallpaper and bathrooms attached; the other rooms share bathrooms down the hall, but all are furnished with lovely antiques.
if you want to hear about the miners who stayed there over a hundred years ago, the woman who cooked for them when she was happy and blasted them with her shotgun when she was not, how tessla and edison played a part in the hotel's history, how old the mounted grizzly and elk on the walls are, why the spittoons are up over the bar mirror, why chief ouray often looks cross-eyed in his portraits, and other legends, be sure to find the owner. he is a willing font of wonderful stories and history, and truly loves the hotel.
walk into this hotel, and you walk into the past. from the owner to the busboy, everyone is friendly, interesting, efficient.
you can bet we'll return to ouray to stay in this wonderful old hotel, to hear more stories, to brave the yankee boy trail in the owner's personal jeep tour.
if you need airconditioning and tv, this place is not for you. then again, if you need airconditioning and tv, you can stay home, can't you.

I was really looking forward to staying at this hotel after reading the previous reviews as I am a fan of old historic hotels and wanted a different lodging experience other than the typical chain motel room. I called the owner of Historic Western Hotel back in mid-August to make my reservation. He seemed nice enough on the phone then as he took my name and credit card number for a two night stay on Oct. 17 and 18. He said they would not be busy at that time of year and told me he would give me their larger queen room with bathroom down the hall. When me and my husband arrived on Oct. 17 at about 2pm, we found the place locked up and a closed sign in the window of the restaurant that is part of the hotel. But the entrance to the hotel part of the building did not have a closed sign and there was a free standing sign by the hotel entrance that said call for reservations with the phone number. I called the owner twice during a two hour period, no answer. I left two messages on their answering service to call my cell number as we were in town waiting to check in. After walking around town and waiting for him to call we went to the visitor center about 4:30pm to see if we could get some information on the hotel and owner. I talked to a helpful lady there and she called the owner and this time he answered the phone. The visitor center lady handed me the phone and I told the owner we were waiting to check in the hotel. He tells me the hotel is closed for the season. I asked him why he took my down my information two months ago for a reservation and did not tell me they would be closing in Oct. for the season. He offered no explanation or apology for my predicament. He was not very friendly and offered no other help or reccommendations for other lodging. I can't believe this person is in the tourist business with that kind of attitude. The visitor center lady was the one who apologized to me about my predicament. We went over to the Box Canyon Lodge also in Ouray and stayed there for our two nights in Ouray.

We stayed one night in room 9. We spent most of the night reading the entries in the journal from previous visitors. There were allot of marriage proposals and anniversaries there. We didn't get a chance to eat at the restaurant, but the town is absolutely gorgeous. Were definitely gonna be vacationing there next summer!

Like some of the other reviewers, we wanted to stay somewhere other than a regular chain hotel. We booked the (blue) suite which was very lovely and were very satisfied with our experience at the hotel. It was fun to walk around and look into the other rooms that were not occupied at the time and for the most part, I think the European style rooms looked quite comfortable if you don't mind the bath down the hall. We loved our clawfoot bathtub and enjoyed the comments of other guests in the journal in our room. Ouray itself was great fun and a beautiful drive.