Luxury Hotels Atlas / Places / United States / Telluride / Element 52
Element 52
Telluride, Colorado, United States · Auberge Resorts · High Luxury
Two- to five-bedroom suites give you room to settle into Telluride, with full kitchens, fireplaces, and direct ski access from the historic townsite. Opened in 2014, Element 52 takes its name from tellurium's place on the periodic table, while the gondola connects downtown life with Mountain Village above.
- 51 rooms
- Opened 2014
About Element 52
- Telluride's original townsite is a National Historic Landmark District, preserving its Victorian commercial buildings and grid of side streets.
- Downtown Telluride sits at approximately 8,750 feet above sea level in the San Juan Mountains.
History
Telluride's improbable survival as a functioning town owes everything to one metal. The San Juan Mountains held silver and gold enough to sustain the first boom, but it was tellurium-bearing gold ore discovered in the late nineteenth century that gave the camp its most enduring economic logic and, eventually, its name. Telluride takes its name from tellurium, element 52 on the periodic table — a rare metalloid of the chalcogen group whose chemical properties made it commercially useful in the early mining economy and whose atomic number now serves as the name of a hotel in the town it inspired.
Element 52 opened in 2014 as an all-suite, ski-in/ski-out property in Telluride's historic downtown, at the base of the gondola that connects the town floor to the Mountain Village ski center above. The property occupies a location in the original Telluride townsite, a National Historic Landmark District whose Victorian commercial architecture and grid of side streets have been protected from the homogenizing pressures of resort development. The hotel's name is a deliberate act of etymology — a reminder that the mountain you are skiing was named for an element, that the town was named for a geological fact, and that the seemingly arbitrary name of a Colorado ski resort carries a specific scientific meaning most visitors have never noticed.
The fifty-one suites range from two to five bedrooms, all configured with full kitchens, fireplaces, and living rooms appropriate to an extended mountain stay. The lobby lounge provides fireside dining and cocktails for evenings when skiing has exhausted the ambition for anything more elaborate. Access to the ski lifts is direct, the gondola system allows car-free movement between downtown Telluride and Mountain Village above, and the altitude — the town sits at approximately 8,750 feet — announces itself to visitors arriving from sea level with the particular eloquence of thin air. For a property that holds its name as a chemistry lesson, Element 52 has made itself at home in one of the most scenically overpowering small towns in the American West.
The setting
Telluride's historic downtown at the base of the gondola.
Restaurants and bars
- The Lobby Lounge — Bar
Experiences
- Ride a 4x4 through high mountain passes — Driving a 4x4 through high mountain passes.
- Whitewater raft Colorado's famous rapids — Whitewater rafting on Colorado's famous rapids.
- Golf with the iconic Rockies as your backdrop — Golf with the Rocky Mountains as the backdrop.
- Shop historic Colorado Avenue — Shopping on historic Colorado Avenue in downtown Telluride.
Amenities
- Spa
- Ski-in/Ski-out
- Skiing
- Pool
- Hot tub
- Fitness center
- Tennis
- Pet-friendly
Open Element 52 in the atlas for live weekend rates, photos, and the full folio.
More Auberge Resorts hotels
- Auberge du Soleil — Rutherford, United States · Apex Luxury
- The Lodge at Blue Sky — Wanship, United States · Apex Luxury
- Bowie House — Fort Worth, United States · Grand Luxury
- Commodore Perry Estate — Austin, United States · Grand Luxury
- Hotel Jerome — Aspen, United States · Grand Luxury
- Primland Resort — Meadows of Dan, United States · Grand Luxury
More hotels in Telluride
- Lumière by Dunton — Independent · High Luxury
- The Peaks Resort & Spa — Independent · Accessible Luxury
Auberge Resorts in The Maison: the brand's idea, history and every house on the atlas.