SE of La Grande on OR 203, La Grande, Oregon. County/parish: Union.
Added to the National Register of Historic Places March 15, 1979. NRIS 79002148.
9 contributing buildings. 1 contributing structure.
Hot Lake Hotel (also known as Hot Lake Sanatorium and Hot Lake Resort) is a historic Colonial Revival hotel originally built in 1864 in Hot Lake, Union County, Oregon, United States. The hotel received its namesake from the thermal spring on the property, and operated as a luxury resort and sanitorium during the turn of the century, advertising the medicinal attributes of the mineral water and drawing visitors worldwide. It is also the first known commercial building in the world to utilize geothermal energy as its primary heat source.
After a fire burned down over half of the hotel in 1934, the remaining building was used for various purposes, including a retirement home, and a nurse's training school during World War II. After that, operations were intermittent under various owners before the building's abandonment in 1991. The hotel and surrounding structures were added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1979.
Today, it is operated as a hot springs resort with lodging, pub/eatery, movie theater, and hot springs soaking. Previous restoration done by the Manuels from 2005 to 2013 has been continued and expanded by new ownership as of 2020. Prior owners included future governor Walter M. Pierce and former state senator Parish L. Willis.
(read more...)National Park Service documentation: https://catalog.archives.gov/id/77851346