History
The Buckhorn Baths Motel sits at the corner of Recker Road and Main Street in east Mesa, Arizona, on what was for decades the eastern edge of the Salt River Valley's developed agricultural land. Ted and Alice Sliger established the property in the late 1930s after Ted, while drilling for water, struck a hot mineral spring on the site. The Sligers added bathhouses, a wishing well, motel cottages, and eventually a coffee shop and trading post, building the complex out over the 1940s into one of the best-known mineral-bath resorts in the lower desert.
The buildings are executed in a vernacular Pueblo Revival idiom common to roadside Arizona in the period: stuccoed walls scored to suggest adobe block, low parapeted roofs, projecting vigas on the principal elevations, and hand-painted signage and ornament by Ted Sliger himself. Most of the walls are stucco over wood frame rather than true adobe, a practical choice that gave the visual character of New Mexico's pueblo tradition at the construction cost of a roadside motel. The Sligers' decorative program — taxidermied animals, neon, and the painted exterior murals — became a signature of the complex.
The Buckhorn drew long-term seasonal guests for arthritis treatment in the mineral baths and was a winter destination for major-league baseball players during spring training; the New York Giants and other clubs used the baths in the 1950s and early 1960s. Alice Sliger kept the motel and trading post operating into the early twenty-first century, and the property was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2005 under reference number 05000421.
The complex today is closed to overnight guests, has been the subject of preservation negotiation with the City of Mesa, and is currently offered for sale with its principal historic buildings intact. Within Arizona's adobe tradition the Buckhorn stands for the mid-century roadside translation of Pueblo Revival into commercial vernacular architecture.
Common questions
What is the Buckhorn Baths Motel?
The Buckhorn Baths Motel is a former mineral hot springs resort in Mesa, Arizona, that offered a bathhouse, cottages, and motel rooms. Developed by Ted and Alice Sliger beginning in 1936, it opened as a resort in 1939 and operated as a bathhouse until 1999, with the motel continuing until 2004.
When was the Buckhorn Baths Motel built?
The property began in 1936 as a gas station and store, then was developed by Ted and Alice Sliger into a resort complex that opened in 1939. The buildings were constructed over more than a decade and were virtually complete by 1947.
Where is the Buckhorn Baths Motel located?
The Buckhorn Baths Motel is located at 5900 East Main Street, at the corner of North Recker Road, in Mesa, Arizona.
Is the Buckhorn Baths Motel open to the public?
No, the Buckhorn Baths Motel is no longer operating as a resort. The bathhouse closed in 1999 and the motel and Wildlife Museum continued only until 2004. The property is listed as a private residence and is not open for tours.
What architectural style is the Buckhorn Baths Motel?
Although built over the course of more than a decade, all of the Buckhorn Baths Motel buildings are designed in the Pueblo Revival style, an architectural tradition drawn from the adobe forms of the American Southwest.
Why is the Buckhorn Baths Motel historically significant?
The majority of the Buckhorn Baths Motel complex was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2005 under reference number 05000421. It is recognized as a notable example of mid-20th-century Pueblo Revival resort architecture in Arizona.