Hotel de Paris Museum, a gem hidden in plain sight

We stumbled into the Hotel de Paris while on a trip to Georgetown for my birthday five years ago. As readers know, I’m a fan of museums and we try to patronize as many as possible in our travels around Colorado.

Hotel de Paris, Georgetown, Colorado. HeidiTown.com

An hour and a half later, Hotel de Paris was my favorite museum in Colorado. Our docent had brought the place alive for me (evidence that a good museum docent is priceless). The stories of the hotel’s colorful French owner, Louis Dupuy, combined with the historical integrity of the building and its contents convinced me that this place was very special.

I’ve been back twice; most recently this past week while on a magazine assignment. I toured the hotel again with current director Kevin Kuharic. Kuharic’s love for the museum and its story is palpable.

He’s done some really great things since his arrive in 2010, including starting a museum Facebook page – go like it here.

Hotel de Paris Museum in Georgetown, Colorado. HeidiTown.com
Hotel de Paris Museum in 2009, when photography was still permissible.

One of the reasons I believe this museum is so unique is that 90 percent of the museums furnishings are original to the building when it was a hotel operated by Louis Depuy from 1875 until his death in on October 7, 1900, exactly 114 years ago today. But that’s not the end of the story. Several other families operated the hotel until it was bought by the National Society of Colonial Dames of American in Colorado in 1954. It has been a museum since then.

Today, photography in the museum is prohibited (it was not on our first trip pack in 2009, and that’s why I have photographs of the inside of the museum). However, you can snap a photo in the photo booth and upload it to Facebook letting your friends know that you were at the Hotel de Paris. Brilliant.

mustache Heidi at Hotel de Paris in Georgetown, Colorado. HeidiTown.com
Because who doesn’t want a fabulous Louis Dupuy mustache?

On this recent trip, we stayed at the beautiful Hotel Chateaux Chamonix, situated on Clear Creek. The leaves were changing color and the wind off of Guenella Pass, high above the town, had a frosty feel.

The view from our patio at Hotel Chateaux Chamonix in Georgetown, Colorado. HeidiTown.com
The view from our patio at Hotel Chateaux Chamonix in Georgetown, Colorado.

The Hotel de Paris Museum never ceases to impress me and I’m not the only one. The National Trust for Historic Preservation recently named Hotel de Paris Museum as one of “Sixteen Sites to See.”

And of course, I agree with the NTHP. It’s worth the short drive to Georgetown to visit this one-of-a-kind hotel museum, and of course, the town’s lots of fun too. I encourage you to make a weekend of it.

Watch for my article entitled “Georgetown, a Colorado Christmas town” in the November/December 2014 holiday issue of Lydia’s Style Magazine.

Visit the museum online at HoteldeParisMuseum.org.

Please note that winter hours are weekends only through December 14. The museum closes and then re-opens with summer hours on Memorial Day Weekend. Private tours can be arranged year round.

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