Canfield Hotel

Pretty cool place, unlike some other guests who’ve left reviews, I got a bigger room, for only a little bit more, and the ambience was old school! I liked it. As the pictures show, my room’s theme was, I’m guessing, late 60’s… circa Dylan’s Blonde on Blonde, and when we were landing men on the Moon. I’d recommend this place, it’s right next to a ton of bars, and has a Karaōke bar in the lower level, and there’s two Native Americans to greet you when you walk in. And the room phone… what can I say! It brought back memories of a simpler time when we weren’t welded to our phones.

This is not a bad hotel, it’s just really different! I think they have put lots of effort in not updating things. I would not recommend bringing anyone with you to this hotel. I will post some pics to help you make your decision.

Very eclectic hotel with lots of character. Very clean though and the staff was pleasant. Odd odd odd room layout and décor but it adds to the charm. I would definitely stay here again. Something very different from regular chain hotels and if you like interesting places, this is one to check out! My boyfriend and I are sure to go back on our next motorcycle trip to the area.

Stayed in this hotel with a buddy on a motorcycle jaunt several years back. Writing this review now because a friend mentioned to me the other day that she was going to Dubuque for a wedding and I immediately recalled/​recommend this hotel. Anyway…
We decided on this joint because it hands down seemed to have the most character and was the cheapest option in town. We got a clean two bed room for like $ 50. The desk staff was pleasant; both the woman manning the day desk and the night clerk as well.
The hotel was off beat in a good way and the view from our 5^th floor room on the east side of the building was nice. Yeah you got a casino in it but you also have the Mississippi River. The rooms are not a standard Super 8 but were clean and unique in a very good way. I stayed at this hotel years ago and recalled it immediately. Off beaten, clean, safe. Enough said.

An intriguing establishment, to say the least: compared to the Hotel Julien (the other main option for lodging in downtown Dubuque), the Hotel Canfield — at worst — offers the patron a much more affordable, but nonetheless historical, overnight experience along the Mississippi. My group, for instance, purchased a three-​bed room with a fairly spacious adjoining kitchen-​room for $ 90 per night; and — as we navigated the hallways of the second-​floor to find our number — we were treated to an illustrative view of our patron brethren (one guest along the way had his door propped open with a thirty-​six pack of Natural Ice). Fellow sojourners are, however, but a part of the charm of the Canfield.
The room: to call its decoration «eclectic» would be a disservice to both the room and the term. «Blithely disjointed» may, in fact, be a better descriptor — and though we’d been briefly regaled with tales of the Canfield’s infamous «Panther Room,» the appearance of the room in which we ended up seemed — in its own, simpler fashion — much more extraordinary. For one: it was adorned around the edges with a series of aesthetically-​coherent ceramic figurines which were molded and painted in what I can only describe as a «pickaninny» style. This welcoming earthenware art was inexplicably matched on the periphery of the room with a series of Mexican-​inflected sketches, hung from the walls: visual vignettes, colored in, of sombrero-​shaded men in dulcet repose. And then the bathroom: in its economy of space it puts airline lavatories to shame, albeit awkwardly (for example: one method to achieve this end is the positioning of sink and mirror just outside the bathroom door, in the main bed-​room). Meanwhile: the kitchen table’s ruddy umber had a rustic quality — like a Cracker Barrel, sans the oppressive inauthenticity — and was surrounded on the walls by similarly colorful sketches, this time of Italian chefs and their coterie of vegetables.
There is also a lounge on the first-​floor, adjoined to the lobby — the Rainbow Lounge — which boasts a «unique 1930s art deco motif,» according to the Canfield’s own brochure; we unfortunately entered just at last-​call, thanks to Iowa statutes, which proscribe the sale of alcohol after the second hour of the morning. From my sixty-​second glimpse, I can assert — if nothing else — that Rainbow Lounge was indeed prismatic, and had intrigue to match that of its hotel housing; there was also tell of karaōke.
Meanwhile: the night porter, to whom we headed after being rejected and expelled by the closing Rainbow, was a lean, cordial, hoary-​coiffed old man who administered the desk and operated the door through the midnight hours. He checked us in expeditiously despite the post-2:00am time, and instructed us to our room by way of an antiquated (though entirely sturdy) elevator. Beware: there are two life-​sized Native-​American dolls seated arm-​in-​arm on the lobby’s couch: you will be alarmed, but they are not working humans: they are only mannequin.
Reaching our room: the beds were all three comfortable and well-​maintained — and, in fact, both main rooms were quite clean. Basic amenities were likewise well-​provided, with one strange exception: there was instant coffee, an electric coffee pot, sugar and non-​dairy creamer, and even little plastic khaki-​tinted coffee cups — but the cups literally lacked bottoms, which was a somewhat astounding and surreal realization in the Mississippi-​side morning. (If this was some cup-​based ontological joke, I cannot decide if it was cruel or good-​natured.) The Canfield was also well-​air-​conditioned, and restful in the middle of July.
Unfortunately, the woman stewarding the Sunday-​morning desk was brusque and unpleasant — almost gruff, without any positive connotations — but our interaction was brief, and hardly detracted from the Canfield’s overall impression. Beware: the twin mannequin will alarm you anew in the morning light.
If again in Dubuque, I would not hesitate to return.