Month: January 2025

I think when I look at photos of the original Fuller Lodge design and compare it with the building I know and love today, it’s sometimes difficult to identify exactly how it changed. Then I take a look at the picture below and pretty much have my “holy cow!” moment.

If you’ve read any of my other posts regarding architecture in Los Alamos in the post war era, you’ve likely read the name W.C. Kruger and Associates. They worked with the Atomic Energy Commission many times on buildings in Los Alamos and are responsible for designing many of the homes we still have in town today.

The Zia Company took over management and operations of Fuller Lodge in 1947. The plan was still to utilize the lodge as a hotel because it was the only building that could actually pull that off in 1947. The major difficulty was trying to maintain the rustic charm of AJ Connell’s “outpost of civilization” while accommodating the AEC’s purely functional desires. While we look at the lodge today and aren’t particularly shocked. The decision to add onto the lodge in three directions utilizing native stone was met with quite a lot of disapproval from the locals at the time.

Going from the above look of Fuller Lodge to the one below was quite a change. The biggest change being that the front of the lodge became the back and the back became the front. All because of CARS.

In an effort to “match” the new with the old, native stone was used in order to complement the existing rock of the fireplaces and chimneys inside the lodge. Guest rooms were crammed into the new wings added to the north and south ends of the building. This allowed the lodge to host 75 guests at a time!

The south wing got 14 new rooms which included a two room suite with a private sitting room. The first floor of the north wing became the home of the “modern” lobby which used the back of the original fireplace. The first floor of the north wing also gained a manager’s office, a receiving office, and even a barbershop! With seven rooms upstairs in the north wing, they also added two small suites which eventually became the Nambe Room.

Of course, the kitchen needed a real overhaul in spite of it’s ability to turn out a top notch steak dinner all throughout the war years. The new kitchen completely overtook the old stone one on the west side of the building. They also made rooms for storage and even a bedroom for hotel employees. Above the new kitchen were six additional guest rooms which had been packed in and were therefore pretty small.

The original building was still the heart of the hotel. The Curtis and Zia Rooms became banquet halls and the original dining room got new and more comfortable chairs to replace the old slatted ones seen in the photo below.

The whole structure was rechristened “The Lodge”, which you can see scrawled down the chimney in the photo showcasing the fancy new parking lot entrance. It opened in early 1949 and the Zia Company named R.E. Carraway as the new manager.

Staying at The Lodge would cost you $7 per night for a single room or $9.50 for a double. As you might imagine, the first thing guests complained about was the lack of a cocktail lounge. Not long after opening, the AEC gave permission for the Curtis Room to be renovated into a cozy bar.

The Zia Company operated The Lodge until 1966. When the whole town began going through phases of privatization, the AEC authorized the construction of the Los Alamos Inn around 1966. The agreement was that The Lodge would be closed within 10 days of the new Inn being open for operation. The purpose was to cut down on competition. I think many of us now wish The Lodge was still a hotel considering we often have a great need locally for short term housing!

The AEC first thought to tear the building down, but a local movement to Save the Lodge gained momentum almost immediately. Locals were keen to prevent Fuller Lodge from meeting the same fate as The Big House, (which you can read about HERE). The AEC decided to give Los Alamos County a one year contract to operate the Lodge as a cultural center and museum. The first public event held at Fuller Lodge happened on August 26, 1967 when the Los Alamos County Fair was hosted at Fuller Lodge for the first time. Though the whole thing was considered a huge success, it took the AEC until October 24, 1974 to navigate the red tape and transfer ownership of Fuller Lodge to Los Alamos County.

Today, Fuller Lodge could be called the Heart of Los Alamos. It’s rooms host events, conferences, historical talks, music exhibitions, and even the annual Pumpkin Glow happens on the lawn! The building has been renovated yet again to make space for the Los Alamos Art Center and gallery, the Los Alamos Historical Archives, and offices for the Los Alamos Historical Society and the Los Alamos Arts Council. The Pajarito Room still hosts everything from lectures to weddings and a good number of us have had our senior photos taken somewhere on Fuller Lodge Property. It’s a piece of our history that should be cherished and loved. I sometimes think that AJ Connell would be pleased with how it’s turned out. One might even argue that Los Alamos itself has become an Outpost of Civilization!

I hope you’ve enjoyed this tour through the history of Fuller Lodge. The building fascinates me just as much as the rest of the rustic architecture of Bathtub Row. Whether you’re itching to purchase a historic home or a regular home here in Los Alamos, give me a call! I’m a hometown girl who loves to talk about life in Los Alamos!

When General Leslie Groves and Robert J Oppenheimer made their choice regarding potential sites for Project Y, Groves considered Fuller Lodge to be a bonus to the Los Alamos Ranch School’s desirability as a location. According to Craig Martin and Heather McClenahan’s book, “Of Logs and Stone”, Groves considered Fuller Lodge “immediately ready for use as ‘transient housing and messing of post and technical personnel”.

I had a good chuckle at the wording. “Messing” of post and technical personnel? In the military lingo, “messing” refers to feeding. And apparently Fuller Lodge was averaging 13,000 meals served each month during the Project Y years! If you lived or stayed in the Lodge or the Big House, you ate your meals at Fuller Lodge. However, if you wanted to show up for a steak on a Friday night at Fuller Lodge, you paid just a dollar per person for your dinner.

That’s right. It seems like a deal worthy of a casino buffet, but a full meal ticket covering 3 square meals per day was $60/mo. Breakfast was $.50; Lunch was $.65; and dinner would cost you a dollar no matter what they were serving. As you might imagine, a lot of Project Y personnel lined up when the lodge was serving their steak dinner, (something Eleanor Jette speaks about in her book, Inside Box 1663).

The most distinguished guests in Los Alamos were billeted at Fuller Lodge during their stays, and if you were a bachelor you were likely to be at the Lodge or the Big House. Considering the necessity of feeding both guests and the science guy bachelor population, local legend suggests Fuller Lodge was often hosting at least six past and future Nobel Prize laureates at a time for meals. Apparently Otto Frisch of the British Mission loved to eat breakfast at Fuller Lodge just to watch the sun come up over the Sangre de Cristos.

Of course, that wasn’t the only thing going on at Fuller Lodge during Project Y. The Pajarito Room saw just as many dances, gatherings, celebrations, and public meetings as it did during the Ranch School years! Even the Town Council used the Pajarito Room as their chambers during some evenings.

Enrico Fermi allegedly square danced one evening at Fuller Lodge and could not be convinced to join the dance until he had memorized with mathematical precision every one of the moves he would need to perform. Can you imagine trying to square dance with a boatload of mathematically gifted individuals obsessed with the geometrical “correctness” of the movements? I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall on those nights! While our brains probably cannot see a night of square dancing as “trendy” and “exciting”, the square dance was to turn of the century America what the Minuet was to Regency England. All the rage! And sincerely a better way to get to know a potential new friend than a bunch of instant messages from a dating app…

The Army didn’t modify Fuller Lodge very much during the Project Y years. The biggest renovation was to create guest quarters where the infirmary had been. The post commander requested sleeping and bathing areas in the space. The most interesting feature of this upgrade was a quirk in the plumbing which required the toilet to be in a rather peculiar position. Guests had to actually step up to the toilet, which was located on a platform. This particular accommodation eventually became known as “The Throne Room”. The picture below shows exactly why, and the sign was for laughs as it would be unusual for anyone to suggest a meeting in the bathroom!

Happy 2025 Los Alamos! Take a drive by Ashley Pond and Fuller Lodge while the wonderful holiday lights are still lit up in the evenings and enjoy this amazing landmark of the Pajarito Plateau. And when you’re ready to buy or sell your property here in Los Alamos, give me a call! I’m a hometown girl who would love to chat about living in Los Alamos with YOU!