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Seeking a new owner to honor the property’s heritage, a hospitality group has been retained to market the sale of the Arizona Inn.

The 14-acre property at 2200 E. Elm St. opened in December of 1930 and has since been owned by the family of founder Isabella Greenway.

The Arizona Inn, 2200 E. Elm Street, was built in 1930 and designed by Merritt H. Starkweather. A hospitality group has been retained to market its sale.

It has 89 rooms and about 5,000 square feet of event space and amenities, including a bar and patio, dining room, clay tennis courts and croquet lawns.

β€œWe’re seeking a buyer who recognizes the Arizona Inn’s historical significance to Tucson and its surrounding community and is committed to preserving its legacy while thoughtfully enhancing its potential,” said Matt Riley, senior director of JLL Hotels & Hospitality Group, which is marketing the Inn. β€œThe resort represents a rare opportunity to acquire a piece of Arizona’s history while its prime location, coupled with the strong demand fundamentals of the surrounding lodging market, positions the asset for continued success.”

The library at the Arizona Inn. The historic boutique hotel opened in 1930.

There is no set sale price.

Greenway was Arizona’s first congresswoman and lifelong friend of Eleanor Roosevelt, who would stay at the Arizona Inn during her visits to Tucson.

Prior to building the Arizona Inn, Greenway ran The Arizona Hut, a philanthropic furniture store to offer employment to disabled World War I veterans who were convalescing in Tucson, the Inn’s history shows.

When the Hut ran into financial trouble following the stock market crash in 1929, Greenway built the Arizona Inn to both preserve the furniture from the Hut and keeps veterans employed.

Original Arizona Hut furniture can still be found throughout the Arizona Inn, maintained by the Inn’s on-site carpentry shop.

The Arizona Inn was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988.

Linda Ronstadt stays there whenever she returns to Tucson, she told the Star.

Historic photo of the Main Dining Room at the Arizona Inn, taken during the opening week of the hotel in Dec., 1930.Β 

It’s been Ronstadt’s hometown refuge for years after she sold her home in the historic Colonia Solana district in 2016.

She told the Star that Arizona Inn is her β€œfavorite hotel in the world” and the place where she invites family to visit her when she gets to town including her last public visit at the 2023 Tucson Festival of Books.

The hotel was designed by architect Merritt H. Starkweather and done in Pueblo Revival and Colonial Revival styles.

It opened during a time of tremendous growth in Tucson, conservationists and historians say, and catered to very affluent tourists at a time when people dressed up for dinner, enjoyed a book in the library or an evening cocktail by one of the many fireplaces.

The historic Arizona Inn, 2200 E. Elm, photographed in 1957. It was built in 1930-31 by Isabella Greenway.

During the days of swamp coolers, the Arizona Inn used to close in the summers until 1971.

The historic Arizona Inn, 2200 E. Elm, photographed in 1957. It was built in 1930-31 by Isabella Greenway.

Once air conditioning was added, the resort was open all year until the pandemic shut it down in the spring of 2020 until Oct. 1 of that year.

The Arizona Inn is one of several resorts that opened in the 1920s and early 1930s to cater to wealthy clientele, according to the Historic American Landscapes Survey.

Still in existence are the Arizona Biltmore in Phoenix (1929), La Posada in Winslow (1930) and the Hassayampa Hotel in Prescott (1927).

On the Arizona Inn’s opening night, Dec. 18, 1930, Greenway is quoted as having said she built the resort with a desire to give guests β€œprivacy, quiet and sunshine.”

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Contact reporter Gabriela Rico at grico@tucson.com. Reporter Cathalena E. Burch contributed to this story.