The hotel was originally built by the Strater family, who moved to Durango from Cleveland between 1880 and 1881. Specifically, the hotel was the brainchild of Henry Strater, a pharmacist who rallied his brothers and father to help construct the hotel at the cost of $70,000. Strater kept his pharmacy in the corner of the hotel, while delegating the management to H. L. Rice, who elevated the social scene at the hotel. Strater eventually opened up a rival Columbian Hotel after he became furious at the high rents that Rice was charging him for the pharmacy located in the corner of the Strater hotel.
Western author Louis L’Amour, who stayed in Durango with his family, always asked for room 222, located directly above the Diamond Belle Saloon; he said that the honky-tonk music helped set the mood for his novels of the Old West. A number of L’Amour's Sackett series novels were written at the Strater. As a result, room 222 is known today as the Louis L’Amour room.
Original Design
The architecture style created by Architect Paul Geier, is an eclectic mixture of Italian Romanesque, Renaissance Revival, and other architecture forms.
In an era before indoor plumbing, the rooms’ washstands also housed the chamber pots which were emptied each morning by the maids. The hotel also boasted a strategically designed three-story privy.
In 1981, Roderick Earl Barker returned to his home town to renovate and operate the hotel under the ownership of his family. Under his direction and later his ownership, the Strater Hotel was developed into one of the finest small hotels in the United States. During that time, (1981-2020) the hotel had 3 restaurants, a construction and Interior design company, a theatre, and a catering company. The hotel’s collection of American Victorian Walnut antiques is said to be the largest such collection in the world and fills the hotel and its 88 rooms. In 1985 after visiting the Molly Brown house in Denver Colorado, Rod Barker was introduced to Bruce Bradbury of Bradbury and Bradbury art Wallpapers. Rod quickly recognized both the authenticity and remarkable craftsmanship of the hand printed papers. During the next 30 years Rod and his hotel company put well over $11,000,000 into the property renovation. Rod was fortunate to have been able to work with such talent as his lead craftsman, Charles E Schumacher. “Charlie” was both a longtime painter and wallpaper hanger as well as a very talented master woodworker. He was featured on the cover of Wood Magazine. Some of the outstanding results of the Barker-Schumacher collaboration were the Office “Spiritorium,” where a high Victorian Bar was established to rival ones in larger cities like Denver or San Francisco. In that room alone, Barker spent over $1,000,000 on the finish and infrastructure of the room. A similar story exists for the restaurant in the next room which is branded as the Mahogany Grille. In this room, there are two magnificent stained glass domes installed on the ceiling. One on the West side was purchased in the liquidation sale of Durango’s Old Muldoon bar and the second was crafted as an exact copy by Strater craftsman Mike Mitchell who also worked with Barker in the Strater’s renovation team. When visiting the hotel, take some time to explore its other renovated areas, including the Pullman and Centennial Rooms, the hotel lobby, and some of its hidden passageways and secret hiding places. You can also visit the famous Diamond Belle Saloon, where ragtime musicians such as Adam Swanson, Johnny Maddox, Terry Hartzel, and others have performed on its upright grand piano.
Not all of the hotels top level renovations are in the public eye, as is evidenced by the energy star rated boiler room. In this room Barker and his team utilized the waste heat generated by the air cooling system to heat the domestic hot water system through a series of heat exchangers and a 5,000 gallon underground hot water storage tank. This system was later refined to help reduce the nearly 6,000,000 btu’s from two large natural gas powered boilers to one, 2,000,000 btu highly efficient unit that provided all the heating needed.
Now this boiler room renovation and continued hotel renovation is conducted by Strater craftsman Josh Wolf.
Bradbury & Bradbury wallpaper.
