Completed in 1889, the building features numerous round arch window openings and an unusual parapet, with brick work forming four rows of small square panels.  The construction of the hotel was financed by Jerome B. Wheeler, one of Aspen’s most notable entrepreneurs, during the town’s early period of development.  Many original interior appointments remain in the first floor level.  In 1945, the exterior was painted a pale gray with blue trim when Walter Paepcke commissioned Herbert Bayer to oversee a remodeling project on behalf of the Aspen Company.  A subsequent project in the mid-1980s included removal of the paint.