This two-story red brick building, with a third floor added in 1899, is enhanced by ornate primary and secondary metal cornices and six arched windows on both the second and third floors. The front entrance has large display windows flanked by cast iron columns.

The bar originally featured calfskin-covered walls, while the restaurant advertised velvet-curtained booths equipped with telephones which diners used to order meals. Unfortunately many of the original Victorian furnishings were sold to Knott's Berry Farm, the Southern California amusement park, although a 30-foot-long mirror framed in Corinthian columns still reflects the surviving Austrian cherry wood bar. The hotel's patrons included Lillian Gish, Sarah Bernhardt, and Colorado's three-time choice for U.S. president, William Jennings Bryan, who delivered one of his silverite speeches in front of the hotel for Telluride's July 4, 1903, celebration. During the labor wars of 1903–1904, the New Sheridan Hotel was commandeered by the Colorado National Guard as its headquarters for suppressing striking miners. Since then it has been rehabilitated for modern-day travelers.