The Colfax Hotel (Gillen at the time) was designed to attract travelers, miners and visitors passing through Sierra Nevada, featuring 56 rooms, a restaurant and balconies. Photo courtesy of Colfax Chamber of Commerce


COLFAX, CA (MPG) – After more than 50 years of sitting empty, the iconic Colfax Hotel is getting a renovation! In August, current owners of the hotel, Wendy and Leif Lowery received the final permit needed for the highly anticipated restoration project, confirming that the work on the hotel is now officially in progress.

The Colfax Hotel was originally built during the winter of 1902 and opened on Grass Valley Street in Colfax on March 1903. At that time, the hotel was officially named The Gillen Hotel, after the builder Daniel Cornelius Gillen and had morphed into different names over the years such as Marvin Hotel and as we know it now, The Colfax Hotel.

The Colfax Hotel (Gillen at the time) was designed to attract travelers, miners and visitors passing through Sierra Nevada, featuring 56 rooms, a restaurant and balconies. Being at the junction site for the Southern Pacific Transcontinental line and the Nevada County Narrow Gauge Railroad, Colfax served as a location where crew changes for the railroad took place. The Gillen Hotel was a hotspot for these crews, giving the crew time to rest before continuing their journey.

In 1907, a newly constructed wooden walkway led from the Nevada County Quartz Monument to the Gillen, attracting many more visitors to Colfax and the iconic hotel. Unfortunately, a tragic fire struck the hotel in 1911, destroying ten rooms. The hotel’s name was briefly changed to the Martin Hotel in 1917 after the new owner, Fred Marvin, after Dan Gillen had leased the hotel to him. 

After Marvin’s death in 1923, Fred C. Dill and A.A. McKee acquired the lease and the hotel was officially named The Colfax Hotel, as it is known today. The hotel continued to thrive even after the fire, serving as a community gathering place hosting Soroptimist Club luncheons and business meetings. 

Several more ownership changes followed in the years to come and in the 1970s the hotel’s role as a railroad-traveler stop faded, ultimately resulting in the loss of many customers and closing its doors. Alas, the property was eventually purchased by investors promising to reinvent and reopen the hotel however those plans were never followed through, that is, until this August. 

The property may include a restaurant, retail space as well as rooms for long- or short-term occupancy. Photo designed by Magnific

Owners Wendy and Leif Lowery have big plans for reopening the historic hotel. Earlier plans for the property have mentioned a restaurant and retail space on the ground floor, eight hotel rooms and eight multi-family units used for long- or short-term occupancy, however planning details are ever changing as construction progresses.

There is currently no confirmed opening date for The Colfax Hotel as it is still early in its rehabilitation process, however we can’t wait to bring this Colfax staple back to the limelight!