Western Hotel

The Ouray newspaper, The Solid Muldoon, reported at the end of 1891 that it was the most financially successful year Ouray had experienced. This is the year the Victorian/Italianate "Monte Alta" with its Western Vernacular accents was built by two men, Johnstone and Mayol, who immediately renamed it the Western Hotel as it neared completion. The hotel is three stories tall and has a south facing porch on the front of the building. The hotel's grand opening took place in 1892. Being located near the Denver and Rio Grande train depot, business immediately boomed; however, the silver crash of 1893 signaled the down turn of prosperity. Today the forty-four room hotel is owned and operated by Greg and Rosemarie Pieper. There are currently 14 rooms for rent, a frontier style Vernacular bar, dining rooms, and, in the summer, a large outdoor dining deck is open. The Victorian and Western themes prevail throughout the hotel just as in its early days