Preliminary Inventory of the Luhrs Hotel Registers

In 1887, George H. N. Luhrs and Newell Herrick built the two-story brick Commercial Hotel on the east side of Centre Street (now Central Avenue). The original proprietor died six months after the building was completed and Herrick and Luhrs took over the business. In 1888, they expanded the hotel by adding a three-story structure adjacent to the original building in order to take advantage of the Southern Pacific Railroad coming to Phoenix. Luhrs bought Herrick's interest in the hotel in 1890 and he and his wife moved in, he managing the first floor and she the second and third. In 1916, a fire partially gutted the inside of the hotel and major renovations (including new light fixtures, steam heat, and running hot and cold water) were made before the reopening on February 10, 1917. Improvements were made to the exterior in 1924 and the hotel was afterward known as the Hotel Luhrs. George H. N. Luhrs died at the hotel on May 4, 1929 and his son, Arthur Cleveland Luhrs, took over the hotel's management. The hotel remained in the family and catered to both humble and prominent guests until the Luhrs family sold their interest in the property on December 22, 1976. The hotel was demolished during the winter of 1981-1982.