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The 90,000-square-foot (8,400-square-meter) Queen Anne building has a magnificent veranda and porte-cochere, which needed to be completely rebuilt. It also has sandstone and slate facades, three turrets, three courtyards, an ash-paneled lobby, a 60-foot- (18-meter-) wide clear-span dining room, and several elegant meeting rooms that once served as the hotel's parlors.

Left vacant for 30 years, much of the building had been in shambles. The roof leaked, and the veranda roof had failed completely, causing the veranda to rot away. A section of brick bearing wall had collapsed, causing all of the floors above to slope precipitously.

The floor of the main dining room, no longer sound, was held up with a sea of temporary jacks. The 12-foot- (3.6 meter-) high trusses had begun to fail and were supported by columns in the dining room. This exacerbated the structural problems by creating bowing in the exterior walls above. We found that each of these trusses had failed in both shear and tension and threatened the entire building with collapse.

Where time and water penetration hadn't caused structural damage, vandals had. Only by using historic photographs could we recreate the missing fireplaces, bench seat, and lobby reception desk.

Safety and Accessibility

Like most older buildings, Montezuma Castle did not comply with modern building codes and was not accessible to the disabled. No one involved in the project wanted to leave an unsafe building behind, and we wanted to make as much of the building accessible as was practicable. These objectives had to be met while maintaining the building's historic integrity and meeting a stringent budget.

Existing corridor doors and transoms were allowed to remain because the building became fully sprinklered. The main stair was allowed to remain unenclosed at the lobby level by creating fire-rated stair lobbies on the floors above.

We raised the level of the veranda to the first floor level and incorporated ramps into the new veranda's design. A two-sided elevator was installed in the last bay of the dining room to serve all usable floors.

Like many projects of this type, we had to deal with removal of asbestos and lead paint. An additional hazard was the resident wildlife. Thousands of bats and their droppings had to be removed before work could begin.

A bleach solution was applied to kill potential harmful bacteria and the potentially deadly Hanta virus, which is present in mouse droppings in this region. Bees and wasp nests were removed, but raccoons continued to return throughout construction.

Balancing Restoration and Modernization

We felt it important to restore many of the lost features of the building's exterior, but when necessary, our changes made the building function better in its new role.

For instance, a new double stair was added to the veranda, and ramps were added to all the building entries. These changes were accomplished in the same design vocabulary as the original building so as not to detract from the spirit of Burnham & Root's design. On the ground floor, where little original fabric remained, the student recreation areas were designed as modern spaces.

The public spaces on the first and second floors were generally restored to their historic appearance. Missing elements, including ornate fireplace mantles, intricately carved woodwork, beveled mirrors, and hand-made tiles and ornamental andirons, had to be recreated from photographs. These elements, along with the reception desk and bench seats were important in helping to restore the building's architectural character.

In the main dining room, the entire ceiling had to be removed to allow us to repair the trusses. The coffered beams, with their cast-plaster ornament were documented and molds taken so that they could be recreated after the repairs were complete.

The trusses above this space were maintained in situ while new steel trusses were installed along each side to carry the loads that the original wood structure could not. Virtually every door and window in the building was taken down, abated, sanded, filled, and put back in its original location.

The idea of maintaining the historic fabric whenever possible remained foremost in our minds throughout the process of melding of old and new.

Exacerbating problems of a tight budget and aggressive construction schedule was the project's distance from a large city. Certain trades could not be found locally and the tight budget could not pay specialty contractors to travel from out of state.

To resolve this, we brought in a restoration contractor to teach local craftsmen to do stone pointing and slate repairs. This solution provided quality work at a reasonable cost and left a positive residual economic benefit in the community.

The renovation was recently honored with a 2002 Heritage Preservation Award by the Historic Preservation Division of the New Mexico Office of Cultural Affairs.

Mark Thaler, AIA, is a principal at Einhorn Yaffee Prescott, Architecture & Engineering, P.C. and principal-in-charge of the Montezuma Castle restoration project. He has worked on historic structures throughout the country, including at Ellis Island and the University of Virginia. EYP has offices in Boston; Albany, New York; New York City; and Washington, D.C.

A meeting room in the Montezuma Castle after restoration by Einhorn Yaffee Prescott. Photo: Chun Y. Lai Photography The abandoned building had been the victim of vandalism and structural collapse. Photo: EYP The dining room after steel trusses had been installed to span the 60-foot- (18-meter-) wide room. Photo: Chun Y. Lai Photography Before restoration, only the makeshift columns were keeping the dining room ceiling from collapsing. Photo: EYP The neglected building had been home to thousands of bats. Photo: EYP Montezuma Castle, first floor plan. Image: EYP With fireplace and woodworking rebuilt, the lobby was fully restored to its original grandeur. Photo: Chun Y. Lai Photography The enclosed porch. Photo: Chun Y. Lai Photography   Click on thumbnail images to view full-size pictures.