Cortez Building
El edificio Cortez

Cortez Building

The Cortez Building is located on the northeast corner of North Mesa and Mills Avenue on San Jacinto Plaza in downtown El Paso. For more than seventy-five years it has served the city as a hotel, office building, and home to government agencies. It was originally built as a hotel on the plaza, the last of three hotels to occupy that site. In 1899, Mrs. Alzina DeGroff, a pioneer in the hotel business in El Paso, acquired the Vendome Hotel and renamed it the Hotel Orndorff after her first husband. She operated it for more than twenty-five years until 1924 when she borrowed 825,000 dollars and hired the renowned El Paso architectural firm Trost and Trost to design a new hotel. The Hotel Orndorff was demolished and a new Orndorff Hotel was constructed at the same site at a cost of more than 1.4 million dollars. Henry C. Trost, who dominated the architectural scene of the American Southwest for more than three decades, designed the building.

Area: Central / Downtown

Source: EPMH

Uploaded by: El Paso Museum of History

Comments

Add a comment
Thank you for your comment

Report this entry

Choose the most important reason for this report

Your name

Your email address

Optional detail

Thank you for your report

More from the same community-collection

Little Caples Building

Little Caples Building in downtown El Paso, Texas. Located at ...

City Hall circa 1915, El Paso, Texas

Intersection of Myrtle & San Antonio Streets between 1910-1920. ...

Street Scene-Automobile Row

This section of North Kansas Street was known as "Automobile ...

Abdou Building

Henry Trost designed this seven-story reinforced concrete ...

Church and County Courthouse in 1890s

This picture, dating back to the 1890s, shows the County ...

Bird's Eye View of El Paso from Mesa Garden

The picture captures El Paso between 1890 and 1900. It was taken ...

The Popular Dry Good Company

The Popular department store chain, founded by Adolph Schwartz, ...

Lawmen On Horseback

Lawmen on horseback in downtown El Paso, Texas.

Street Car Downtown

A street car travels between the Grand Hotel and the El Paso ...

Local Bar In El Paso, Texas

A local bar in El Paso, Texas between 1910 - 1920.

Otis A. Aultman

Otis A. Aultman playing cards with friends, he is to the far ...

Downtown El Paso

Image of downtown El Paso between 1910-1920. City Hall to the ...

El Paso Preachers

This group of Protestant ministers includes Dr. Poe of the ...

Chamber of Commerce Anniversary Luncheon

These are the past and present directors of the El Paso Chamber ...

Southwest University Park

Southwest University Park is a stadium in El Paso, Texas. It is ...

White House Department Store

The popularity of the White House exceeded the size of its ...

Southwest University Park

Southwest University Park is a stadium in El Paso, Texas. It is ...

East San Antonio Avenue

This sign marks the corner of East San Antonio Avenue and South ...

Architecture

A once beautiful building in downtown El Paso, TX.

Lamppost

Downtown El Paso is dotted with revival styles from the turn of ...

N. Mesa Street Downtown El Paso, Texas

Image of N. Mesa Street with sign and lamp post in downtown El ...

Kress Sign

This sign marks the location of Kress & Co. Department store at ...

Betty Moor MacGuire Hall - El Paso Texas

Photograph of the Betty Moor MacGuire Hall. The picture features ...

home.search_collection