Hotel Cortez
El Paso, El Paso County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Hotel Cortez Alzina DeGroff bought the Vendome Hotel at this site in 1899, renaming it hotel Orndorff after her first husband. Noted architect Henry C. Trost designed a new building for her, which opened in 1926. Renamed Hotel Cortez in 1935, this brick structure reflects a Spanish eclectic style, featuring prominent cast-relief, terra cotta detailing with busts of conquistadors. Guests included President John F. Kennedy, who stayed here in 1963. The hotel closed in 1970. It was converted into offices in 1984, and the first and 10th floors were historically restored. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 2002
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Businesswoman Alzina DeGroff bought the hotel on this site in 1899, and by 1926 had commissioned a striking new building from the Southwest's premier architect, Henry C. Trost. Renamed the Hotel Cortez in 1935, its Spanish eclectic brick facade bristles with terra cotta busts of conquistadors. Among its guests was President John F. Kennedy, who stayed here in 1963, the year of his death. The hotel closed in 1970 and was later restored and converted to offices.
Why it matters
The Cortez captures the confident boom-era architecture of the early-20th-century Southwest and the entrepreneurial vision of a woman who shaped El Paso's skyline.
The story behind this marker
AI contextThe era
At the close of the nineteenth century, El Paso was a fast-growing railroad town. Trains brought travelers, salesmen, mining men and investors through the city, and they all needed somewhere to stay. Hotels were not just lodging; they were where deals were struck, news was traded and a town showed off its ambitions.
In the decades that followed, El Paso grew into the commercial capital of a huge region stretching across West Texas, southern New Mexico and northern Mexico. Downtown filled in with substantial brick and masonry buildings, and the city's skyline took on a distinctly Southwestern character.
Part of that character came from the Spanish Colonial and Mission revival styles fashionable across the Southwest in the early twentieth century. Architects drew on the region's Spanish heritage, real and romanticized, to give new buildings a sense of place. The Hotel Cortez, opened in 1926, is very much a building of that moment.
It is also a reminder that women were active players in this booming economy. Though they faced real legal and social limits at the time, some women owned property and ran businesses, and Alzina DeGroff was one of them.
People & events
The story begins in 1899, when Alzina DeGroff bought the Vendome Hotel on this site. She renamed it the Hotel Orndorff after her first husband. Owning and running a downtown hotel in a booming border city was serious business, and she kept at it for decades.
In the 1920s she hired Henry C. Trost, one of the most celebrated architects of the Southwest, to design a new building. Trost shaped much of El Paso's skyline, and his work is known for blending modern construction with regional style. The new hotel opened in 1926, a confident statement that DeGroff's business, and El Paso, were here to stay.
In 1935 the building was renamed the Hotel Cortez, and its decoration leans into that name. The brick facade carries Spanish eclectic detailing, with bold terra cotta relief and busts of conquistadors gazing out over the street. It was a theatrical way of linking the hotel to the long Spanish history of the region.
Over the years the Cortez hosted many guests, but one stands out. President John F. Kennedy stayed here in 1963, the year of his death. The hotel closed its doors in 1970, and in 1984 the building was converted into offices, with its first and tenth floors historically restored.
Its place in the American story
The Hotel Cortez is a fine example of how American cities in the early twentieth century built their identities in brick and stone. Across the Southwest, architects borrowed from Spanish and Mexican traditions to create a regional style that still defines many downtowns. Henry Trost was a leading figure in that movement, and this building is part of his legacy.
It also illustrates the rise and fall of the grand downtown hotel. In the age of rail travel, hotels like this were the center of urban life. As highways, cars and motels changed how Americans traveled after World War II, many downtown hotels struggled and closed. The Cortez's closing in 1970 fits that national pattern.
Its conversion to offices in 1984 reflects another national trend: saving historic buildings by giving them new uses. Rather than being torn down, the Cortez was adapted and partly restored, keeping its striking exterior in the city's daily life.
And Alzina DeGroff's role adds a chapter to women's history. Her decades of ownership, and her commissioning of a major architect, show that women helped build the commercial West, even when the history books gave their names less attention than the men's.
If you visit
Give yourself time to look up. The real treasure here is the facade: the rich terra cotta detailing and the busts of conquistadors set into the building. On a bright West Texas day, the relief work throws sharp shadows that make the ornament easy to pick out.
Try to read the building as a piece of storytelling. Trost and the hotel's owners were using architecture to evoke the Spanish past of the region, and the decoration is meant to impress anyone arriving downtown. Ask yourself what impression it would have made on a weary rail traveler in the 1920s.
The building is now offices, so treat it as a working space and respect any limits on access. Even from the sidewalk, though, it rewards attention. It pairs well with a walk through downtown El Paso, where other buildings associated with Trost help you see how one architect shaped a city.
For families, the conquistador busts make a great game of spotting faces on a building. And the Kennedy connection is a natural hook for older kids: imagine the excitement in the hotel when a sitting president checked in.
Written by AI to add context, grounded in the marker’s inscription and the historical record. The inscription above is the original, unaltered text.
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Related people
- · Alzina DeGroff
- · Henry C. Trost
- · John F. Kennedy
Themes & tags
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