New B&B in Pueblo Is Inn Full Swing
The revived Abriendo Inn brings together beer, bed and breakfast hospitality, and a bygone era.
Martin Walter was no stranger to brewing beer when he moved to Pueblo in the late 1890s. The German immigrant had worked in Wisconsin breweries since arriving in the U.S. in 1880, and was on his way to a new life in California when he made a pit stop in Pueblo and decided to grow roots.
He purchased an existing brewing outfit for $7,000 in 1898, renamed it the Walter Brewing Co. and built a stately family home in 1906.
That mansion now houses the recently revitalized Abriendo Inn, which stands as a testament to past and present entrepreneurship in the city.
B&B in Pueblo: A “Leap of Faith”
Walter’s home was first turned into a bed and breakfast in 1989; it operated under the moniker The Abriendo Inn until 2012, when it was a victim of foreclosure. For the next eight years, says co-owner Jeff Bailey, who now runs the Inn with wife, Cindy, it served as commercial office space.
In 2020, Cindy, a florist and wedding planner searching for her own event venue, came across the property and encouraged high-school teacher Jeff to take a “leap of faith” into hotel ownership.
The Baileys replaced the roof and hardwood flooring in one room, but the house retained all its original wood details, coffered ceilings and wainscoting.
However, the couple ditched the modern office furniture left by the previous owner and replaced it with period furniture and decor before the Abriendo’s 2021 opening.
Cindy scoured estate sales and antique stores across Southern Colorado, even dispatching her son to deliver one particularly exciting find: a 9-foot, one-piece buffet that matched the inn’s existing wood perfectly.
“My son goes to school in Colorado Springs and she sent him to someone’s house after school to pick it up,” Jeff says.
History Meets Heart
The Baileys accommodate a host of events at the inn: weddings, of course, plus bridal and baby showers; celebrations of life; anniversaries, office and holiday parties; and seasonal teas. But one of the most memorable events they’ve hosted, Jeff says, was a Walter family reunion.
Pueblo’s Walter Brewing Co. closed in 1975 but was revived in the early 2000s as Walter’s Beer. Last September, the brewery hosted an Oktoberfest celebration at its taproom and invited members of the Walter clan from Eau Claire, Wisconsin, to travel to Pueblo, where they stayed at The Abriendo Inn.
“We had a barbecue event for them,” Jeff says. “We got to meet them and visit with them and listen to their stories and memories of the house. … They got to meet some cousins from Colorado who they’d never met.”
Jeff says he was thrilled to see the family’s eyes light up when they saw the Abriendo Inn. “It’s really their family’s home,” he says.
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