the wandering chick
...The Mabel Dodge Luhan House
overflowing with comfort and ambiance

Mabel Dodge Luhan was born in 1879 to a wealthy Buffalo, NY family. She became a prominent figure in the arts and society of New York City and was known for entertaining the well-known artists, writers and activists of her time.

In the early 1900's she moved to Taos and married a full-blooded Taos Pueblo man, Tony Luhan. They bought the property on which stood a four-room adobe and expanded it into what is today the Mabel Dodge Luhan house.

Her international reputation as a supporter to the great thinkers of the world traveled with her to Taos as she invited such greats as D. H. Lawrence, Georgia O'Keeffe, Ansel Adams, Mary Austin and many others to stay in her home, by then a large 22-room home builtin the adobe style with influences of an Italian villa.

As my travel partner and I toured the rooms and walked the courtyards, we were captured by the ambiance of the place. We found it very inviting, comfortable and easy. Constantly in MY mind was the fact that we were walking where these famous people had once walked. Their absence was a stark presence.

Today, the Mabel Dodge Luhan house is a historic inn as well as a retreat and conference center. In 1991 it was designated a National Historic Landmark. It's located at the quiet end of Morada Lane in Taos.

the Luhan house today
the original adobe structure
The original structure still looks today as it did when it was built.
the original adobe
the original adobe
Here is the Luhan house as it looks today. The original section can be seen in the shadow. Mabel Luhan preferred high ceilings and lots of light as opposed to the short, squat and dark look of the original rooms. The top floor with all the windows was her solarium. Below that is an open sleeping porch. Beside it is a bathroom with windows on three sides. The ground floor holds the living room, reading room, dining room and kitchen.
the dining room
The dining room was patterned after an Italian villa that she owned with her second husband Edwin Dodge. The picture on the wall is of her; on the opposite wall is one of her husband Tony.
the dining room ceiling of Navajo colors
The dining room ceiling is made of colored latillas, thought by Mabel to pattern the colors of a Navajo rug.
solarium windows
Mabel Luhan named her home "Los Gallos," for the Mexican ceramic roosters that are still visible. The windows of the bathroom were painted in 1922 by author and poet D. H. Lawrence while he was a guest at the home. He didn't like that someone could climb the wall and peek in the windows...so he painted them!
kitchen table
The kitchen has also remained much as it was in Mabel's days. The table, it is told, is where the male guests had their breakfast. The women guests received breakfast in bed.
ladder on adobe
outside the courtyard
Outside the walls of the courtyards
in the courtyard
On the grounds of the Mabel Dodge Luhan House
on the grounds of the compound
row of birdhouses
The birdhouses have been around since the early days of Mabel and Tony Luhan's years at the home.
the pink house
The Pink House was built in 1922 on the grounds of the "Big House." When it was completed, Mabel moved in for awhile. In 1929, Georgia O'Keeffe stayed there when she visited the Luhans.
the pink house
Mabel's tombstone
Mabel Dodge Luhan died in 1962 and is buried in the Kit Carson Cemetery near her home.
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