The Elk Mountain Hotel was constructed in 1905 on property previously used for an Overland Stage Station, local saloon and community post office. The building incorporates many features of the Folk Victorian style of architecture found on the western frontier. It is a two story, front-gabled roof, wood frame building with a stone foundation. Since it was the only hotel with accommodations in a fifty mile radius, the hotel was an important waystation for the entrepreneurs and laborers who integrated this region into the mainstream of Wyoming's economic development in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

The buildings also derive significance through their association with the local community by serving as a dance hall, meeting place and club house for various local societies in the same time period. The Garden Spot Pavilion is a dance hall located near the hotel. It was constructed in two phases with the first part completed in 1880. The name plate on the false front facade identifies the building as the ''Famous Garden Spot Pavilion''. It is the oldest surviving building in Elk Mountain.