{"nrhp_refnum":"10000251","name":"Luther Hotel","other_names":["Bay View Hotel","Palacios Hotel"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"408 S Bay Blvd","address_restricted":false,"city":"Palacios","county":"Matagorda County","state":"TX","lat":28.701275692000024,"lon":-96.21622886799997,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2010-05-10","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Community Planning and Development","Entertainment/Recreation"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A 2½-story wood-frame hotel at 408 South Bay Boulevard in Palacios, Matagorda County, Texas, facing Tres Palacios Bay, with a separate 11-unit Art Moderne motor court added in 1941. The hotel was designed by Jules C. Leffland and built in 1903, then moved to its present site in 1905.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the hotel is one of the few surviving tourist and residential hotels built along the Texas Gulf Coast as part of early 20th-century land development schemes. It is significant under Criterion A for Community Planning and Development and for Entertainment and Recreation, and under Criterion C for Architecture, at the local level. The 1939-1941 classical portico and the motor court added for automobile tourists are also noted as significant in their own right.","narrative":"Facing Tres Palacios Bay in Palacios, Texas, this long white frame hotel began as the Bay View Hotel, designed in 1903 by architect Jules C. Leffland for the Palacios Bay Townsite Company to draw investors to the new town. In 1905 it was cut into three sections and pulled by mules about a half-mile to face South Bay, where wings and a 400-foot porch were added. The hotel became a center of town life, with dances, banquets, swimming, fishing and hunting. It has survived hurricanes and a fire. Renovations between 1939 and 1941 replaced the long porch with a two-story columned portico and added an 11-unit Art Moderne motor court for automobile travelers. The hotel is still in operation, while the motor court is vacant. It is recognized for its role in coastal town development, its resort and recreation history, and its architecture, including the classical porch that gained significance of its own during the historic period.","period_of_significance":"1905-1960","architect_builder":"Jules C. Leffland, Architect; D.D. Rittenhouse, Builder; O.J. Howard, Architect (1941 renovation and motor court addition)","architectural_style":"Late 19th and 20th Century Revivals: Classical Revival","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"The 1905 hotel building is in fair to good condition and remains in operation as a hotel; the 1941 motor court is in fair condition and vacant.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:54:23.90279-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/54/9729/40972954/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_TX/10000251.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/10000251/cda3e53767-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/10000251/cda3e53767-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY 2.0","author":"Patrick Feller from Humble, Texas, USA","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Luther_Hotel,_Palacios,_Texas_1706031131_(35060609556).jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Patrick Feller from Humble, Texas, USA</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY 2.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Luther_Hotel,_Palacios,_Texas_1706031131_(35060609556).jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/40972954","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luther_Hotel","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q107318216"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/texas/matagorda-county/luther-hotel-10000251/"}