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.
“It seemed like Greer was just kind of dying,” Nelson says. “There were a lot of properties for sale. We really wanted to bring more energy.”
The hotel got its start as a ski lodge in the 1970s. Back then, a ski run and a lift sat adjacent to the property. A renovation in the early 1990s added a rustic vibe and enclosed the lodge’s porch, which overlooks the vibrant green meadows of the Greer area.
