Highland/Hudson Hotel Building
202 Central, 1905, Francis W. Spencer

Business buildings used to line Central Avenue to Broadway, a natural extension of downtown Albuquerque. Now, the Highland Hudson Hotel Building is all that is left of the Victorian business blocks east of the railroad tracks. The exposed brick façade with its arches, pilasters and cornice line reflect the building's roots in Chicago. The detailing is flat and not overly ornate, like many of the skyscrapers that were built around that time in the Midwest. It is now one of the few buildings left in Albuquerque of that time, which is why the façade is one of the significant features the city wished to protect under its landmark status.

This three-story brick building was built in 1905 to replace the brick and wood Highland Hotel which burned down in a spectacular blaze in 1903: liqueurs in the bar tinted the flames a rainbow of colors. The new hotel was designed by Francis W. Spencer, reported to have also designed the old public library at Edith and Central. It was termed "one of the handsomest commercial edifices in the city" and expected to be "an architectural ornament to that part of the city where the ruins of the old hotel have long been an eyesore."

The new building had rooms for guests on the top two floors, catering to salesmen traveling on the Santa Fe Railway. The first floor was rented out for commercial use; whenit first opened, the French Bakery and the Sanitary Market occupied the space. In 1924 Peter and Stella Hudson bought and renamed the hotel, but they only remained as owners until 1927. The building operated as an economy hotel, with commercial space on the ground floor, until 1976. In the early 1980s the architectural firm Hutchinson Brown Partners, gave the hotel new life when they renovated it for use as offices. The building now serves as the centerpiece of a small commercial district. The first floor storefronts are essential to the character of this building and are one of the key elements that will be preserved now that it is a city landmark.