The Beaumont Hotel is one of Ouray's landmark 1880s buildings

On Main Street in Ouray stands a three-story brick building with a steep mansard roof and Victorian detailing: the Beaumont Hotel. It went up in the 1880s, during the years when mining money was flowing into town, and it has been a landmark ever since. The Beaumont is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The hotel’s mix of styles, brick, and ornament shows what a successful San Juan mining town wanted to look like at its peak. After Ouray’s boom faded, the building eventually closed for years before a later restoration brought it back into use. Its long arc, boom, decline, and revival, mirrors the town’s own.

For a visitor or new resident, the Beaumont is a good anchor for understanding Ouray’s history without needing a tour: it is the kind of substantial commercial building that only goes up when a small mountain town briefly believes it is on its way to becoming a city. A National Register listing recognizes that historic value; it does not, by itself, control what a private owner may do with the property.

If you want the documented dates and architectural details rather than legend, History Colorado and the National Park Service National Register are the reliable places to look.