“WHAT ARE THOSE?” a woman from California asks as our six-person tour group moves from La Fonda on the Plaza’s lobby into an alcove near the registration desk. She motions toward a display of more than a dozen antique copper pots and pans hanging over a carved sideboard in the small seating area.
“Those are from the Fred Harvey Company,” says docent Mary Benziger, referring to the hospitality empire that operated the Santa Fe hotel beginning in 1925. “Many of those were used to train the Harvey Girls in Kansas City.” But there’s no time to linger, it seems, as there’s a lot to cover in just an hour. “We’ll stop back here later.”
While I’ve visited La Fonda dozens of times, I’d never really noticed the polished kitchenware until joining the free guided tour. Benziger begins with a short history of the country’s oldest capital city and the property’s role as a lodging site for more than 400 years. Even if you’d heard some of the stories before, her binder of photos, maps, and illustrations—including the 10-room layout of the 1850s Exchange Hotel with its casino, bar, and stables—provides a fresh perspective on the past, conjuring the likes of Harvey, architects Isaac Rapp and John Gaw Meem, and designer Mary Colter.
But the real highlight comes as we walk the hallways, guest rooms, and public spaces, where Benziger points out piece after piece in the expansive art collection. Near an elevator, she calls attention to a painting of three eagle dancers by Laguna Pueblo artist Marla Allison, who also painted the La Terraza Room fireplace we’re about to see.
