Hotel Faust

The Hotel Faust, originally the Travelers Hotel, was built in New Braunfels in 1929 according to the design of Harvey Partridge Smith from San Antonio. Smith was a prominent, early 20th-century Texas architect known throughout the southern and central parts of the state. The hotel is stylistic in design and exhibits rich use of stone detailing recalling the Spanish Renaissance Revival Style. A fine example of the 1920s, medium-rise hotel architecture in Texas, the Faust was the major Depression-era construction project in New Braunfels. It is today one of the largest buildings in the Central Texas community. In 1936 the hotel was renamed to commemorate the contributions to New Braunfels of a prominent pioneer family and a contemporary son of that family, Walter Faust, who played a decisive role in the hotel's construction. The Faust Hotel reflects the tastes and business prominence of Walter and others who were responsible for its founding. It also reflects an era of New Braunfels' history just prior to the Great Depression.

The Hotel Faust derives its historical significance from a variety of sociological, cultural and economic reasons. Prominent among these is the influence of the economic environment. During the middle years of the 1920s, central Texas experienced a debilitating drought that adversely affected New Braunfels' largely agricultural economy. A group of citizens working through the relatively new Chamber of Commerce suggested that a modern hotel could attract tourist and convention traffic, and thereby lessen the impact of unpredictable weather patterns on the local economy. It was argued that such a hotel could also provide lodging and display space to drummers from midwestern and northeastern states, who for years had made New Braunfels a regular stop on their sales travels through the state. The idea looked promising and a committee composed of nine members of the Chamber of Commerce was formed to study the proposal. From that committee, the New Braunfels Hotel Company was created. The Company's task was to fund and build a new modern hotel for New Braunfels.

Another factor influencing the desire to build a hotel was an attitude embedded as a cultural habit in the largely German community of New Braunfels. Since the town's founding in 1846, its citizens had ever demonstrated an unusual sense of community spirit, involvement, and self-reliance. That attribute was first exhibited in response to the acute hardship surrounding the original immigrants' arrival in Texas when reaching down into their own ranks, they produced leadership that enabled them to deal with their difficulties. The formation of the Hotel Company in 1928 was a later example of a community taking active measures at the local level to improve the well-being of all.

Other factors, contemporary in impact, influenced the committee's desire to build a fancy, prestigious hotel. Tourist, convention and railroad traffic in Central Texas had long been recognized as economically viable. In response, a number of communities, mostly large but some small, had built hotels. The Park/Plaza and Aumont in Seguin, the only hotels in the state known to be comparable to the Faust in architectural pretense, era, service and location, had been constructed in 1917. In 1927, the Von Minden of nearby Schulenburg was built and was considerably more modest than the Faust. Added to these contemporary precedents was the incentive that a modern, medium-rise hotel in a town the size of New Braunfels would be a forceful statement in Central Texas of civic pride, prestige and progress. Thus although a variety of economic arguments provided compelling reasons to build a hotel, factors such as social tradition, precedent, and civic pride played their part too.

The Hotel Committee's task of securing funds for the $150,000 project was significantly facilitated by the actions of a prominent New Braunfels' family. The Joseph Faust Estate, whose executor was Walter Faust, the late Senator's son, donated the large Joseph Faust house and land, lots 57 and 71 of NCB 1004 located at 240 South Seguin St., as the future hotel site. Through that pledge, appraised at $36,000, and Faust's individual subscription for $5,000, the Faust family held $41,000 in hotel stock. Walter's share alone amounted to $21,000 while those of his brother and sister were each valued at $10,000.

With these initial subscriptions pledged and a desirable site secured on a major artery of New Braunfels, the Hotel Company elected its Board of Directors and officers. All prominent citizens of New Braunfels, the Board consisted of President Emil Fischer, former city council member and prominent merchant; Vice-President Walter Faust, president of First National Bank of which his father was co-founder in 1898; SecretaryTreasurer B. W. Nuhn, banker; Legal Counsel H. R. Fuchs, well-known attorney; Adolph Henne, former city council member and another prominent merchant; U.S. Pfeuffer, a descendant of a New Braunfels pioneer family and founder of the New Braunfels museum; R.J. Gode, prominent capitalist; Emil Heinen, financier and banker; I. A. Ogden, entrepreneur and head of one of the oldest industries in New Braunfels. Faust, Pfeuffer, and Ogden were subsequently elected chairs of the Executive, Finance and Building Committees, respectively.

A secret ballot among the Directors resulted in Harvey Partridge Smith as the choice for a project architect. Smith was a young promising San Antonio architect who was becoming widely known in Central and South Texas. Born in Minneapolis (1889) and educated at the Chicago Institute of Art, Northwestern University and the University of Arizona, Smith arrived in San Antonio in 1907. He then went to California briefly where he worked under John J. Donovan. In 1916, he returned to San Antonio and worked for the R. H. Cameron and Adams and Adams architectural firms. About 1918, he and R. B. Kelly formed a partnership that lasted until about 1925. Smith then established his own firm which he headed until his death in 1964.

The 1920s and 1930s were highly productive years for Smith. He was involved in scores of design projects distributed throughout the state but concentrated in the southern half. Notable among these were the Boy Scout Headquarters (1925) and the Sunken Garden Theater (1930) in San Antonio. Also during this period, he operated a branch office in Harlingen in South Texas. Several prestigious restoration commissions dating from these years are also worthy of note. They include the 1928 State of Texas and City of San Antonio commission to restore the Governor's Palace in that city, and the 1936 National Park Service commission to restore the San José Mission.

Smith also designed the restoration work for Missions San Juan Capistrano, Concepción and San Francisco de la Espada, and provided the measured drawings for all the missions.

The choice of an architect having been made and an agreement signed in July 1928, progress toward construction began to move at a brisk pace. In August Smith submitted preliminary sketches to the Board. In October his plans were approved, with a few alterations, by the Board. Bids were read for contract work in November, with contracts awarded as follows: electrical work to Graham and Collins Electrical Co. of San Antonio; elevator contract to American Elevator and Machine Co. of Louisville, Kentucky; plumbing and heating to Braden-Hudson-Wangler Co. of San Antonio, lighting fixtures was awarded first to Bailey Reynolds Chandelier Works of Kansas City but later assumed and expanded by Graham and Collins; building contract to Walter Sipple Constructing Co. of New Braunfels.

The opening celebration on October 12, 1929, of the new $162,000 hotel was a gala event. Approximately 2,000 persons from the New Braunfels' area were reported to have attended. New Braunfels' mayor H. A. Triesch presided at the formal opening banquet where 300 guests were served an eight-course meal. Speeches were given by luminaries from New Braunfels and San Antonio. Although Governor Dan Moody did not arrive as anticipated, festivities nonetheless continued through the night, with many guests staying until morning.

Observers of Faust's first three decades say that although it never fulfilled its founders' high aspirations for profitability, Faust did well, particularly during the 1930s. During that decade it earned a reputation, serving New Braunfels' service organizations, social circles, business functions, conventions and tourist traffic. In 1936, the hotel was renamed the Hotel Faust to commemorate the Faust family and Walter Faust who had died three years earlier.

During the 1940s, the Faust is said to have been a favored spot among servicemen stationed in San Antonio and became informally known as the "Honeymoon Hotel."

The Faust remained in the hands of the Hotel Company until 1946 when Arlon Kreuger purchased it. He held it until 1977. Unable to compete with the new motels springing up along Interstate 35 to serve the increasing motor traffic, the Faust had begun to decline by the early 1960s. When Steven Jackson and William Houser bought it from Kreuger, the Faust was in deteriorated condition. For the first time in its existence, the hotel closed, for restoration. The Faust changed hands again in 1979 and underwent more rehabilitation before John H. Roberts, its current owner, acquired it in 1982 through a merger. Further restoration valued at $450,000 was undertaken in 1982. That year also saw the Faust featured on the cover of A Guide to Historic Texas Inns and Hotels, a book by Ann Ruff. During the fall of 1984, the Faust became a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark.