The Scottsdale couple completely renovated the property, which dates to the 1970s and originally was an office building. People who drive through Strawberry on State Route 87 know it for the windmill out front, which once held a small coffee shop. That windmill has become a popular background for photos, and the inn is drawing visitors from the Phoenix area and beyond.
The lodge’s foundation dates to the turn of the 20th century, when it supported housing for immigrant railroad laborers. The current structure dates to the 1940s, when it opened as Navajo Lodge, one of the motor lodges built along U.S. Route 89 (now State Route 89), which defined the northern edge of town for decades. In later years, the building served as Prescott’s Greyhound station before becoming an extended-stay facility.
It starts with the rooms. Most of them are 650-square-foot suites, and every suite includes a king bed in the bedroom and a queen pullout sofa in a separate sitting area. Between the two rooms is a double-sided, easy-to-operate gas fireplace, and there’s also a kitchenette and a large bathroom with both a soaking tub and a shower. If you need more space, book one of the 1,500-square-foot villas, each of which has a full kitchen, a dining room and a large balcony or patio.
The sky is clear and unobstructed here, with an expansive view of the Verde Valley. Our suite is on the southeast corner, perfectly positioned to watch the town come to life. Sprinklers fan new sod in the park across the street as dog walkers amble past the bandstand.
Canyon Rose occupies the top floor of the historic Allen Block Building in the heart of the city. The Allen family manufactured the distinctive textured bricks used to construct the building in 1904. Allen blocks, as they became known, were subsequently used throughout Southern Arizona.
The Eden family built the Iron Horse Inn as a motor court in the 1930s. But by the 1970s, cars had outgrown the street-level garages, so the owners converted them into guest rooms. The building’s stone-and-concrete construction made expansion difficult, so the rooms remained small, and the central patio became the inn’s natural gathering spot. And an inviting one it is: a tree-shaded oasis, decorated with a cascading fountain, vines and potted succulents.
