Hotel San Carlos was constructed during the “Roaring Twenties,” in which flappers, the radio, and the Art Deco movement defined the age.

A small, one room adobe school house was built in 1874 upon the lands of where Native Americans were reported to have worshipped the God of Learning. In 1879, a larger two-story brick building with four rooms and a bell tower was built. In 1893, the school expanded again and this time, there were sixteen rooms and this building served the children of Phoenix for the next 25 years.

The schoolhouse became condemned after it was outgrown in 1916. City officials cleared the area for the development of a luxury hotel. 1927 finally saw the plans come to fruition when Charles Harris purchased the hotel site and began construction. The plans were designed by nationally known architects G. Witecross Ritchie of Los Angeles. The total cost of the hotel was $850,000.

The Italian Renaissance style building formally opened on March 20, 1928 as the most modern hotel in the entire Southwest United States. It was the first air-conditioned, high-rise hotel in Phoenix and the first high rise with hand-operated elevators in the state. During the mid-twentieth century, the hotel continued to be a hub for the Phoenix elite, political, social, as well as a destination for Hollywood stars. Mae West, Clark Gable and Carole Lombard, Marilyn Monroe, Humphrey Bogart, Harry James, and Kay Starr all spent time at the Hotel San Carlos.

In 1974, it was recognized as a State Historic landmark and its been in continuous operation since its opening. In 2003, Hotel San Carlos underwent a multi-million dollar renovation that modernized its amenities, but preserved its historic fabric.