El Paisano Hotel

Texas, United States

Open to visitors

The interior is normally open, possibly ticketed.

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Opened in 1930 in Marfa, Texas, the El Paisano Hotel is a Spanish Revival structure designed by Henry C. Trost of the El Paso firm Trost & Trost. Built by Charles N. Bassett, the hotel features a distinctive U-shaped plan with a fifty-by-fifty-foot courtyard centered around a large fountain. Originally serving cattle ranchers and tourists seeking the therapeutic qualities of West Texas's dry desert climate, the hotel gained wider fame as the headquarters for director George Stevens and the cast and crew of the 1956 film *Giant* during six weeks of location shooting in summer 1955—a period that brought James Dean, Elizabeth Taylor, and Rock Hudson to the property. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978 and designated a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark, the building retains original features including a piano still in use in the lobby.

Architect

Trost & Trost

Movement

Mission Revival architecture

Built: 1930
Type: hotel
Heritage: National Register of Historic Places listed place, Recorded Texas Historic Landmark
Place: Texas, United States

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Location

30.31192, -104.02116