The Washington Inn

The Washington Inn opened on 1 September 2026 at 220 Otero Street, a short walk north of the Santa Fe Plaza. It has 27 suites in four buildings on a one-acre site, and no restaurant. The owners, the Bertram and Duettra families, bought the land in 2016 and spent four years building and renovating. The first new-build hotel in the Historic District in over a decade, it mixes two renovated 1950s office buildings with new construction.

The place

220 Otero Street, in downtown Santa Fe. Press coverage puts the Plaza a block and a half to two blocks away, which means the walk takes a few minutes. The site covers about one acre.

Four buildings share it: the McKee, the Hughes, the Kruger and the Terrell. Each has its own colour scheme, so that suites in different buildings do not look alike. Parking is limited to 15 spaces on site, and the Marcy Street Parking Garage is nearby for overflow.

The concept

The property began as the early twentieth-century estate of Levi A. Hughes, a wool baron and banker. In the 1950s the builder Robert F. McKee acquired it, and the McKee building is named for him. Local reports describe McKee as one of the people who developed Los Alamos during the Manhattan Project.

Two families from Santa Fe, the Bertrams and the Duettras, bought the property in 2016 and broke ground in July 2022. They operate as Otero Partners. Covid, construction delays and vandalism stretched the schedule, and the work finished in August 2026. The two 1950s buildings, which had been offices, were renovated with their historic facades largely untouched. A new casita and a new addition to one of the older buildings complete the compound.

Architecture Alliance, a Santa Fe firm, designed the exterior in the Territorial style: stacked stone, brick detailing, clean lines. The interiors came from 4D, the Duettra family's company, working with Sydney Shults, who is also one of the owners. The palette draws on the desert, with muted browns, reds, sage and whitewashed walls. The lobby carries a custom oil painting of Diablo Canyon by the local artist Lee MacLeod.

There are 27 suites, from a 321-square-foot studio to units of nearly 2,000 square feet: 3 studios, 10 one-bedrooms, 11 two-bedrooms and 3 three-bedrooms, 44 bedrooms in all. Every suite has a living and dining room, a full kitchen with Made In cookware, a washer and dryer, L'Occitane toiletries and a gas fireplace. The owners call it the city's first luxury all-suite hotel and the first new-build hotel in the historic district in more than a decade.

Dining & wellness

The inn has no restaurant and no bar. The model is residential and low-service, with contactless check-in and a concierge service, and a staff of 12 to 15 people. Guests who want to cook have the full kitchens, and the Plaza is the nearest place to eat out.