Saturday, August 8, 2015

MABEL DODGE LUHAN HOUSE



The entrance for a tour of the Mabel Dodge Luhan House is very misleading. We didn't have an idea of what to expect. Were we ever surprised!! The house is located at 240 Morada Lane just off Kit Carson Road/US Hwy 64 east near downtown Taos. It is currently a bed and breakfast, retreat and conference center. Visitors are welcome to come tour the grounds and several of the rooms downstairs. Contact info:  (575) 751-9686, mabel@mabeldodgeluhan.com & mabeldodgeluhan.com.



Prior to coming to Taos and purchasing the four-room adobe in 1918, Mabel Dodge was a prominent figure in the arts and society of New York City and Europe. Born Mabel Ganson, she was the heiress of a wealthy banker from Buffalo, New York. Shortly after buying the adobe she began renovations and additions with the help of Antonio Luhan, a local Taos Pueblo Native American. Mabel and Tony married in 1923. Mabel supported and entertained many artists, writers, activists, and thinkers at their home and she was very influential in the Taos literary and artists colony. 

D. H. Lawrence (famous for writing Lady Chatterley's Lover) and his wife, Frieda, came to visit in 1922. He later wrote about the visit in his fiction. Mabel Dodge Luhan also wrote about their visit in a memoir, Lorenzo in Taos. Other guests included Thomas Wolfe, Mary Austin, Ansel Adams, Alfred Stieglitz. Georgia O'Keeffe, Carl Jung, Martha Graham, Aldous Huxley and Margaret Sanger. 

In the late 1960's Dennis Hopper stayed at the house while filming and editing the movie "Easy Rider". He later bought the house and lived there several years. To this day, locals talk of the countless wild parties held at the house.

































The Mabel Dodge Luhan House is a very peaceful place where it is easy to step back into an earlier time.



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