Historic 1930s adobe compound in the heart of Taos, featuring a legendary lobby bar, regional dining in a former doctor's office, and 44 unique Pueblo-style rooms.
The Historic Taos Inn stands as a living chronicle of northern New Mexico's artistic and cultural evolution, occupying a footprint that began in the 19th century as a cluster of independent adobe homes. In the late 1890s, Dr. Thomas Paul "Doc" Martin, the county's first western physician, purchased the largest of these residences. His wife, Helen Martin, a talented batik artist and sister-in-law to painter Bert Phillips, transformed their home into a vital salon for the region's burgeoning creative class. It was within this very complex, in 1915, that Phillips and Ernest Blumenschein met to found the seminal Taos Society of Artists. Following her husband's death in 1933, Helen purchased the surrounding adobe structures, connected them, and in June 1936 opened the property as the Hotel Martin. She roofed over the central open-air plaza to create the grand, two-story lobby, transforming the old community well into a central fountain that still bubbles today beneath a stained-glass cupola.
The heart of the property remains the lobby, a space affectionately dubbed "the living room of Taos" by locals who mingle alongside travelers. Here, massive vertical vigas support the high ceilings, and a roaring fireplace anchors the room, casting a warm glow over hand-carved New Mexican furniture and Spanish-Pueblo Revival details. Directly off the lobby sits the Adobe Bar, famous for its fresh margaritas and live music, where the original community well once served as the neighborhood's water source. Adjacent to the bar, Doc Martin's Restaurant occupies the physician's former medical offices and operating rooms. Diners sit in the intimate alcoves where Doc Martin once delivered local babies, now enjoying regional staples like award-winning green chile and chile rellenos alongside a wine list that has earned decades of recognition from Wine Spectator.
Across its 44 guest rooms, the inn preserves an authentic, tactile connection to its origins as a residential compound. No two rooms are identical, but many feature traditional kiva fireplaces, hand-woven Southwestern textiles, rough-hewn wooden doors, and thick, hand-plastered adobe walls that naturally insulate the spaces from the high-desert heat. While the property underwent a sensitive modernization in 2022 to introduce contemporary comforts and updated bathrooms, it retains its historic soul, marked by the iconic blue thunderbird neon sign that has guided travelers from Paseo del Pueblo Norte since the mid-20th century. Guests can choose from cozy historic rooms in the main building or quieter quarters surrounding the rear courtyards, including those in Helen's House, an eight-room addition completed in 2006 to honor the pioneering founder who first united these historic adobes.
Order the award-winning green chile at Doc Martin's, located in the exact alcove where the town's first doctor once delivered babies, then grab a margarita at the Adobe Bar to catch live music beside the historic indoor fountain.
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