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Tewa Lodge

Retro roadside
In Albuquerque, New Mexico
On Route 66

The Tewa Lodge in Albuquerque, NM, is a 1946 motor court on Central Avenue, the old Route 66, and among the most intact motels of that era in the city. Its stuccoed walls, flat roofs and faux vigas imitate adobe in the Pueblo Revival manner. It joined the state and National Registers in 1998. In October 2024 the city moved to close it, so treat it as a sight rather than a place to stay.

What is Tewa Lodge?

The motel is made up of two buildings with a parking lot between them. The western one is a single story, with one row of rooms that open onto the inner parking area. The eastern one has two rows of rooms set back to back, with parking along both sides, and a two-story block at the front: office downstairs, manager's home upstairs.

The styling is classic Pueblo Revival. The stuccoed walls slope and are braced by buttresses to look like adobe, the roofs are flat, and faux vigas poke out below the rooflines. Most of the metal casement windows are original, set in arched openings under wooden lintels. Covered parking spots once sat between each pair of rooms; they were later closed in to make more rooms.

History of Tewa Lodge

The Tewa Lodge was built in 1946. In 1998 it was listed on the National Register and on New Mexico's state register of cultural properties. For years it stood out as one of the few Route 66 motels in the city still renting rooms. In October 2024, after a deadly shooting involving police during a city code-enforcement operation, Albuquerque officials moved to shut the motel down, calling it a crime magnet.

Visiting Tewa Lodge: tips

View the building from the sidewalk and do not enter the property. The arched windows and faux vigas are the details worth a photo. The De Anza Motor Lodge site is about 0.8 miles away, the La Mesa Motel site about a mile, and the Modern Auto Court about 1.2 miles.

Practical info

Address: 4305 Central Ave NE, Albuquerque, NM 87108
Phone: +1 505-252-0223
Website: thedeanza.com
Hours: Mon–Fri 9–5
On site & nearby

Sources: OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL) · Wikidata · official site — may be outdated. Suggest a fix

Where to eat near Tewa Lodge

All diners →

Diner & restaurant
Frontier Restaurant
Albuquerque, NM · 2.1 mi from Tewa Lodge
A big New Mexican restaurant near UNM on Central Avenue, hung with portraits of John Wayne.
Diner & restaurant
El Modelo
Albuquerque, NM · 4.0 mi from Tewa Lodge
A Barelas restaurant in Albuquerque that began in 1929 as the El Modelo Tortilla Factory.
Diner & restaurant
Mac's La Sierra
Albuquerque, NM · 7.1 mi from Tewa Lodge
A New Mexican restaurant on Albuquerque's West Central Avenue, the city's Route 66, dating from 1952.