La Posada owner completes purchase of Hotel Castaneda

As expected, Allan Affeldt, co-owner of historic La Posada in Winslow, Ariz., on Monday closed on his purchase of the long-closed Hotel Castaneda, aka La Castaneda, in Las Vegas, N.M.

Affeldt said in a Facebook post:

To have New Mexico’s governor visit barely a week after you buy a long-decaying property tells you how momentous the occasion is. People have prayed, probably for decades, that someone would buy and restore the property, and Affeldt practically is the best person to do so.

Las Vegas sits a few miles from old Route 66, but has become a common side trip for travelers exploring the 1926-37 alignment of the road that looped to Santa Fe.

Affeldt saved La Posada, built in 1929, after he bought the long-closed property in the 1990s and restored it.

Also on Monday, a post on La Posada’s Facebook page also contained intriguing, semi-related news:

There is a sad story behind this picture. This is all that remains of The Havasu Harvey House that was torn down in Seligman (Ariz.) in 2008 by the railroad. The Havasu was a rare prairie style Harvey House and it had a sturdy red tile roof. These are the tiles that were salvaged from that roof. We hope to use these tiles when restoring other historic building. Today we received our first shipment. We will receive 125 pallets of these historic tiles over the next few days.

It wouldn’t surprise me if some of those tiles will be used at the Hotel Castaneda as well.

The Havasu in Seligman was torn down despite efforts of local preservationists, including Arizona Historic Route 66 Association founder Angel Delgadillo.

(Image of La Castaneda in Las Vegas, N.M., by Perry Nelson via Flickr)