The hotel was originally built by the Strater family, who moved to Durango from Cleveland between 1880 and 1881.[7] Specifically, the hotel was the brainchild of Henry Strater, a pharmacist who rallied his brothers and father to help construct the hotel at the cost of $70,000.[8] Strater kept his pharmacy in the corner of the hotel, while delegating the management to H. L. Rice, who elevated the social scene at the hotel.[2] Strater eventually opened up a rival Columbian Hotel after he became furious at the high rents that Rice was charging him for the pharmacy located in the corner of the Strater hotel.[8]
During the Roaring Twenties, a group of Durango businessmen led by Earl A. Barker Sr. formed a consortium to buy the then aging hotel in 1926.[6]
Western author Louis L’Amour, who stayed in Durango with his family, always asked for room 222, located directly above the Diamond Belle Saloon; he said that the honky-tonk music helped set the mood for his novels of the Old West. A number of L’Amour's Sackett series novels were written at the Strater. As a result, room 222 is known today as the Louis L’Amour room.[8]
The architecture style is an eclectic mixture of Italian Romanesque, Renaissance Revival, and other architecture forms. Each room boasted its own wood-burning stove, with some rooms equipped with pianos and washstands.[8]
In an era before indoor plumbing, the rooms’ washstands also housed the chamber pots which were emptied each morning by the maids. The hotel also boasted a strategically designed three-story privy.[8]
In modern times, the historic rooms feature Victorian walnut furnishings and vintage Bradbury & Bradbury wallpaper.[8]
