Mabel Dodge Luhan House

The Mabel Dodge Luhan House is the 1922 hacienda where D.H. Lawrence, Georgia O'Keeffe, Ansel Adams, Willa Cather, and Aldous Huxley all stayed during Mabel Dodge Luhan's tenure as Taos's literary salonkeeper. Seventeen rooms across the main house and outbuildings, run as an inn since 1981, and the kind of property where the room you sleep in might be the one O'Keeffe painted from. The Sun Room — Mabel's bedroom — and the upstairs corridor (where Lawrence painted the bathroom windows because Mabel kept exposing herself) are part of the standard tour.

It's a literary-historic stay first, an inn second. People who come here come because they care about the names.

The setting

In Taos, New Mexico, a few minutes' walk from Taos Plaza in the residential streets just east. The Taos Pueblo (the continuously inhabited Native American settlement, a UNESCO site) is fifteen minutes by car. The Rio Grande Gorge bridge is twenty minutes northwest. Taos Ski Valley is twenty-five minutes north.

The drive from Santa Fe is ninety minutes north on the High Road or the Low Road. Taos sits at 7,000 feet; nights are cool year-round.

The building

The original Mabel Dodge Luhan house — adobe, viga-and-latilla ceilings, kiva fireplaces, hand-plastered walls — sits at the property's center. Outbuildings (a guest house, a converted carriage house) hold additional rooms. The aesthetic is country-estate-meets-Taos-Pueblo Revival: stone, timber, vintage Southwestern textiles, the original hand-painted bathroom windows by D.H. Lawrence still in place.

The renovation work has been historical-preservation-grade. The 1922 character is intact.

The rooms

Seventeen rooms across the main house and outbuildings. Categories climb from compact rooms (around $245) up through suites with kiva fireplaces, viga ceilings, and the better period bones. Beds are queens and kings, linens are heavy, bathrooms are updated within historical-preservation constraints. The Sun Room (Mabel's original bedroom) is the room people request first.

There's no elevator. Stairs to the upper floors are part of the experience.

Food & drink

There's no full on-site restaurant. A multi-course breakfast is included, served in the dining room. For dinner, Taos's restaurants are within walking or a short drive: the Love Apple, Lambert's, Doc Martin's at the Taos Inn, El Meze, the Trading Post Cafe. Taos's restaurant scene is unusually strong for the town size.

On the property

A small literary-historic inn.

• Multi-course breakfast included
• Periodic literary and history programming
• Walking distance to Taos Plaza
• Open year-round

Who it's for

• Literary, art, and history travelers who care about the names
• Couples doing a Taos long weekend who want the historic-house experience
• Repeat New Mexico visitors who've done Santa Fe and want the contrasting Taos register
• Photographers and artists — the property hosts occasional residencies and workshops

Who it's not for

• Travelers seeking a contemporary boutique aesthetic
• Anyone who wants ski-in/out at Taos Ski Valley
• Families with very young children — the antique-and-quiet B&B format isn't kid-tuned

Nearby

Walk a few minutes to Taos Plaza for restaurants, galleries, and the Harwood Museum. The Taos Inn (with the Adobe Bar's red-and-green-chile margaritas) is a short walk. Drive fifteen minutes for the Taos Pueblo (a UNESCO World Heritage site, continuously inhabited for over a thousand years). Drive twenty minutes for the Rio Grande Gorge bridge — the second-highest cantilever truss bridge in the US highway system. Drive twenty-five minutes north for Taos Ski Valley. Drive longer for the High Road back to Santa Fe (the route through Truchas, Las Trampas, and Chimayó with its sanctuary). The D.H. Lawrence Ranch (where Lawrence and Frieda lived) is north of Taos and worth the visit.