HistoricSiteMarkers
Progressive & Modern Era

Faust Hotel

New Braunfels, Comal County, Texas

Marker Inscription

First known as the Travelers Hotel, this inn was completed in 1929 with 63 guest rooms and reflected the thriving economy of the New Braunfels area at the time. Renamed "The Faust" in 1936 for the prominent family on whose homesite it was built, the structure has remained in continuous use as a hotel. Its Spanish Colonial Revival design is highlighted by the ornate terra cotta decorative work. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1984

Erected by Texas Historical Commission

The Story

Completed in 1929 as the Travelers Hotel, this 63-room inn rose on the strength of New Braunfels's prosperous economy just before the Depression. Renamed "The Faust" in 1936 for the prominent family whose homesite it occupied, the hotel has operated continuously ever since. Its Spanish Colonial Revival design, rich with ornate terra-cotta detailing, marks the ambitions of a confident era.

Why it matters

The Faust preserves the architecture and optimism of a small Texas city at the close of the 1920s boom, and remains a rare continuously operating hotel of its age.

Own a business near here? Add it to the map.

Themes & tags

Nearby & related markers

Eiband and Fischer General Mercantile

New Braunfels, TX

A general store opened at the corner of Castell and San Antonio Streets in 1846, just a year after New Braunfels was founded, and passed through a succession of German-connected owners over the next century. Growing into one of the region's most successful mercantiles, Eiband & Fischer sold everything from groceries and china to farm machinery, and also served as cotton buyers and short-term bankers. A 1947 fire finally consumed the store, though its surviving annex still stands.

Phoenix Saloon

New Braunfels, TX

Built in 1871 and operating under various names before becoming the Phoenix Saloon in 1895, this New Braunfels landmark paired a lively barroom with a back-room café. There proprietor William Gebhardt served a stew seasoned with his own blend of herbs and dried chilies — 'tampico dust,' often credited as the first chili powder — before moving to San Antonio in 1896 to manufacture his Eagle Brand. The saloon, unusually welcoming to ladies, closed under Prohibition in 1918 and reopened as a saloon a century later.

Plumeyer Bakery Building

New Braunfels, TX

On a New Braunfels corner that had already hosted two drugstores and a bakery, Kathinka Clemens built this brick commercial building in 1913 for A.C. and Helen Plumeyer, who ran their bakery — also called City Bakery — downstairs and lived above it until 1926. Later tenants ranged from a shoe store to physicians' offices, and the structure's Craftsman-influenced design earned it a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark designation in 2005.

New Braunfels Woolen Mill

New Braunfels, TX

German immigrants August Tolle and Dr. Theodor Koester built a large two-story cedar-timber building in 1864, and in 1868 it became the New Braunfels Woolen Mill, drawing on Comal River water for steam power. The successful mill eventually closed for lack of a protected trademark, and in 1901 the Popp family converted it into the town's first steam laundry, which ran until a 1934 fire. Only the old bell, rock foundation, and part of the chimney remain.