Vestiges – Downtown L.A. Proper by Kelly Wearstler

The rejuvenation focuses on blending the past with the present by merging the building’s colourful history with thoughtful design choices. The Kor Group partnered with Los Angeles-based architecture firm Omgivning to both maintain and restore elements within the landmark property. The period detailing and brick façade are preserved, and various suites integrate a former basketball court and indoor swimming pool from the building’s sporting club past.

As well as preserving the building’s history in a structural sense, Downtown L.A. Proper incorporates its heritage throughout the interior design. Kelly’s approach combines Mexican modernist, Spanish, Portuguese and Moroccan influences. The creative direction uses the 1920s vestiges of the building as a muse, layering vintage furnishings and local art with bold patterns and warm colours. This is complemented by lustrous textures to create a dream-like, old-time elegance with a nuanced modern edge.

The creative direction uses the 1920s vestiges of the building as a muse, layering vintage furnishings and local art with bold patterns and warm colours.

Tiles feature strongly throughout, with more than 100 different kinds of tile employed – from hand-painted to vintage and custom commissions. Various murals and installations have also been commissioned – works by local artist Ben Medansky and stained glass from Judson Studios feature regularly. In the reception area, a bold pink floral mural by local Los Angeles artist Abel Macias adorns the walls and offers a captivating backdrop for the custom ceramic reception desk created by a fellow Angeleno, ceramicist Morgan Peck. The way the art works together in the reception immediately sets the tone for what to expect from the rest of the hotel – an emphasis on colour, extravagance and a sense of whimsical opulence.

The rooms and suites are distinctive, each one designed in a way that provides guests with an experience rather than just another hotel stay. In contrast to the commercial feel that hotels typically embody, each room within Downtown L.A. Proper is deeply enriched with a residential feel, crafted to tell its own story and speak to each guest in a different way. Rooms feature high ceilings and original windows that welcome an abundance of natural light and boast views overlooking thoroughfares and the skyline. These features are complemented by a warm palette of charcoals and mauves, as well as sophisticated furnishings such as curated vintage pieces, luxe Aesop bath amenities and Kelly Wearstler x Parachute Home robes.

In contrast to the commercial feel that hotels typically embody, each room within Downtown L.A. Proper is deeply enriched with a residential feel, crafted to tell its own story and speak to each guest in a different way.

A striking juxtaposition of the building’s history and old-time downtown Los Angeles with modernist touches merges the old and the new in complete harmony. Thoughtfully reworking a bygone building to become a 1920s Californian renaissance revival landmark, Downtown L.A. Proper is an invigorating, modern hotel that simultaneously embodies past, present and future.