{"nrhp_refnum":"85000922","name":"Hotel Faust","other_names":["The Faust"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"240 S. Sequin St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"New Braunfels","county":"Comal County","state":"TX","lat":29.710276400000055,"lon":-98.12383239999997,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1985-05-02","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Commerce","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A four-story masonry hotel at 240 South Seguin Street in New Braunfels, Comal County, Texas, built in 1929 as the Travelers Hotel and designed by San Antonio architect Harvey Partridge Smith.","why_significant":"The hotel is a fine example of a 1920s medium-rise hotel in Texas, with Spanish Renaissance Revival detailing and an intact decorative lobby. It was the major Depression-era construction project in New Braunfels and reflects the civic pride and business leadership of the town's German community. It is also one of the few known 1920s medium-rise hotels in Texas still operating as a hotel.","narrative":"Four stories tall and faced in masonry over reinforced concrete, this hotel on South Seguin Street in New Braunfels opened in October 1929 as the Travelers Hotel. Harvey Partridge Smith of San Antonio designed it, and Walter Sipple's New Braunfels firm built it. Its facade combines block-like massing with a stepped parapet and cast-stone panels of floral and heraldic ornament recalling Spanish Renaissance Revival motifs. Inside, the lobby has barrel vaults, ornate pier caps, wrought-iron fixtures and floor tiles with Mexican folk-art designs made in San Antonio. A drought in the mid-1920s hurt the local farm economy, and Chamber of Commerce members formed a hotel company to attract tourists, conventions and traveling salesmen. The Faust family donated the site, and the hotel was renamed for the family in 1936. Restoration work followed decades of decline, and the building still operates as a hotel with 63 guest rooms, a rarity among its Texas contemporaries.","period_of_significance":"1900- (specific date 1929)","architect_builder":"Walter Sipple/Harvey Partridge Smith","architectural_style":"Astylistic design with Spanish Renaissance Revival detailing","criteria":[],"status_note":"Occupied and operating as a hotel; restored in recent years and rated in excellent condition, with some alterations such as an enclosed bar and an enlarged kitchen.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:54:21.814605-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/51/9715/40971551/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_TX/85000922.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/85000922/c3e9c8d610-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/85000922/c3e9c8d610-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY 4.0","author":"Larry D. Moore","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hotel_faust.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Larry D. Moore</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY 4.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hotel_faust.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/40971551","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hotel_Faust","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q15225812"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/texas/comal-county/hotel-faust-85000922/"}