Hotel Settles
A 15-story Art Deco tower that brought big-city ambition to the West Texas Permian Basin — abandoned for thirty years, now restored as a landmark hotel.
At a glance
When the Hotel Settles opened on October 1, 1930, it brought a 15-story Art Deco tower to the West Texas oil town of Big Spring — 174 feet of ambition in the Permian Basin, designed by architect David S. Castle for the boom-era confidence of the early oil decades. Closed in the early 1980s and abandoned for roughly three decades, the hotel was purchased in 2006 and restored at a cost of $30 million. It reopened on December 28, 2012, and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in April 2013. The Settles is now a member of Historic Hotels of America, the official program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, and stands as Big Spring’s most recognizable architectural landmark.
Key facts
- Built: 1930 (opened October 1, 1930)
- Architect: David S. Castle
- Style: Art Deco
- Height: 174 ft (53 m), 15 floors
- Address: 200 East Third Street, Big Spring, Texas 79720
- NRHP: April 18, 2013 (ref. 13000207)
- Also: Recorded Texas Historic Landmark, 1987
- Currently: Operating hotel; Historic Hotels of America member
History
Big Spring in 1930 was an oil economy at full throttle. The Texas and Pacific Railway ran through town, and the fields of the Permian Basin were being mapped and drilled at accelerating pace. The Hotel Settles, financed by local investors and designed by architect David S. Castle, opened on October 1, 1930, as the region’s premier lodging destination — a 15-story tower that served traveling oil executives, railroadmen, and the prosperous citizens of Howard County. For its era and location, it was an architectural statement of unusual scale: at 174 feet, it was the most prominent building on the West Texas skyline.
The hotel operated through the mid-twentieth century as West Texas commerce continued. By the early 1980s, as travel patterns shifted and the oil economy fluctuated, the Hotel Settles closed. It stood largely abandoned for roughly three decades — the fate of many downtown hotels built for the railroad-era economy that persisted a generation past their heyday. The building was listed as a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark in 1987.
The Settles Hotel Development Corporation purchased the building in late 2006, also acquiring adjoining properties including a former Greyhound Bus terminal (later demolished). A $30 million restoration followed over several years. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on April 18, 2013. The hotel reopened December 28, 2012, and subsequently joined Historic Hotels of America, the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s official program for historic lodging.
What you see
Rising 174 feet above the West Texas flatlands, the Hotel Settles offers the vertical contrast that Art Deco was built to celebrate — a tower that made sense in Manhattan and Houston, here on the Permian Basin high plains because the money and the ambition were present in 1930. The Art Deco ornament runs up the tower’s setback facade in the vocabulary of the early 1930s: geometric relief, stepped profiles, and restrained ornament against pale masonry that catches the strong West Texas light differently at each hour.
The restoration returned the hotel’s public spaces to functioning luxury while adapting the 1930s interior to contemporary hotel standards. The lobby and main-floor spaces carry the tone of the restored 1930s design. The building’s mass and silhouette — unchanged through the decades of abandonment — remain the most powerful aspect of the structure, best read from a distance across the flat downtown grid where the tower reads as an unmistakable Art Deco vertical marker.
Practical information
- Full-service hotel with rooms bookable via settleshotel.com or major booking platforms
- Restaurant and bar on premises
- Event and meeting space available
- The exterior is freely viewable from Third Street and adjacent downtown blocks
- Allow 20–30 minutes to see the lobby and public spaces if not staying
- Big Spring is 90 miles east of Midland and 175 miles east of El Paso
Getting there
Big Spring is located at the junction of US Highway 87 and Interstate 20 in Howard County, West Texas. The Hotel Settles is at 200 East Third Street in downtown Big Spring. The nearest commercial airport is Midland International Air and Space Port (MAF), approximately 90 miles west. By car, I-20 exits at US-87 lead directly to downtown Big Spring. GPS: 32.25278°N, 101.47528°W.
Nearby
- Heritage Museum of Big Spring — local natural and cultural history, a short walk from the hotel in downtown Big Spring
- Comanche Trail Park — amphitheater and outdoor recreation south of downtown
- Midland TX (90 miles west) — Permian Basin Petroleum Museum and additional regional heritage sites
Sources
- Wikipedia: Hotel Settles
- West Texas Historical Association: “A Grand Dame Shines Again: Big Spring’s Hotel Settles During Eighty-five Years of Boom, Bust, and Boom” (2015 annual conference, Amarillo)
- Historic Hotels of America, National Trust for Historic Preservation: Hotel Settles profile
- National Register of Historic Places: ref. 13000207 (April 18, 2013)
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