A new book, MAH-WAAN: (Welcome): The Story of Hotel Santa Fe & Picuris Pueblo celebrates the rich history and heritage of Hotel Santa Fe.
Steeped in Native culture, art, and architecture, Hotel Santa Fe is a treasure. Since its doors opened in 1991, the multistory Pueblo Revival-style hotel has enchanted travelers and locals alike with a captivating combination of ancient Pueblo traditions and contemporary hospitality. In a city renowned for landmark lodgings, this hotel is unique.
Hotel Santa Fe staff pose with General Manger Paul Margetson and Picuris Pueblo Governor Craig Quanchello (center). Pete Longworth, 2023.
New Book ‘MAH-WAAN‘ Uncovers the Culture of Hotel Santa Fe
“Hotel Santa Fe is the only Native-owned hotel in a city that prides itself on its deep associations with Native cultures,” says Daniel Gibson, the Santa Fe author of MAH-WAAN: (Welcome): The Story of Hotel Santa Fe & Picuris Pueblo, a beautiful new book that celebrates the hotel’s history and heritage. “With its extensive collection of Native art, from paintings to prehistoric pottery and katsina figurines, its architecture born of the fusion of Pueblo forms and Hispanic heritage, its relaxed but lovely decorative finishes and furniture, and Native cultural presentations including Pueblo ceremonial dances, it has a distinctive ambiance and character.”
MAH-WAAN captures that distinctiveness. It starts with the fascinating story of how the hotel came to be. It’s all thanks to a unique partnership in the 1980s between a group of Santa Fe businessmen and Picuris Pueblo.
The book also explores the hotel’s gorgeous interiors. It features carved wooden doors, latillas, tile floors, Navajo rugs, and a museum-quality Native art collection. Rattles, moccasins and other artifacts display alongside paintings, weavings, and sculptures by renowned contemporary Native artists.
More on MAH-WAAN
MAH-WAAN is a collaboration between Hotel Santa Fe and Picuris Pueblo, which became the hotel’s sole owner in January 2023.
Nearly 200 historic and contemporary photographs fill the pages. Santa Fe photographer Kitty Leaken, the project’s photo editor, contributed contemporary photographs, as did Pete Longworth.
“I hope that readers will come away with the belief that Natives and non-Natives can co-create something as impressive as a major hotel, sharing talents, and the benefits of cooperation and mutual respect — a message sorely needed in the world today,” Gibson says.
MAH-WAAN: (WELCOME): The Story of Hotel Santa Fe & Picuris Pueblo is by publisher White Buffalo Inc. (Picuris Pueblo) and available at the Hotel Santa Fe front desk and Collected Works Bookstore.
Story by Lynn Cline
Photos Courtesy of Hotel Santa Fe
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