La Mesa Motel

What is La Mesa Motel?

Only the story remains. The motel was a single long, one-story block of 14 rooms. Every room but the northernmost looked east over the parking lot; that last unit jutted out to the east and faced south instead. Rooms opening straight onto parked cars were the whole idea of a motor court, since travellers could unload right at their door. The office and the manager's home sat at the front, and the office was probably added later.

The design borrowed modest Pueblo Revival touches: vigas, or projecting roof beams, gently curved parapets, small porches on wooden posts topped with corbels, the bracket-like supports common in the Southwest, and a chimney that tapered as it rose. Nothing flashy, but together they gave the motel a strong sense of place.

History of La Mesa Motel

The La Mesa opened in 1938, when Central Avenue carried Route 66 traffic through the heart of Albuquerque. In 1993 it earned listings on the National Register and on New Mexico's state register of cultural properties. Those listings did not save it. In March 2003 the building came down, and a bigger, two-story motel went up in its place.

Visiting La Mesa Motel: tips

There is nothing of the original motel left to see. For motor courts of the same era that still stand, the Luna Lodge is about 1.1 miles away and the La Puerta Lodge about 1.4 miles. The Tewa Lodge is about a mile off. View all of them from the street.