Hotel Vintage Plaza

Portland, Oregon

Historic Grand Hotel

This historic hotel sat vacant for a time, then was purchased, at which point I was brought in as the lead designer. The ten-story-high atrium rose from the ground floor to the roof and had to stay, accommodating the traditional look of the time. The exterior remained because of the historic value. 

At the entryway, I custom-designed the front door handles with a brass letter V (for vintage), which are still there today. We painted all the atrium railings, walls, and ceilings white for a more harmonious feel with the traditional tone of the rest of the hotel. Meticulously-chosen colors echoed cabernet and chardonnay grapes were used to recolor the elaborately-detailed Brunschwig & Fils fabrics used in the guest suites on the comforters and draperies.

Authentic Chinese Door Lintel

The lobby’s Axminster wool carpet designed to resemble grapes on a vine. For the fireplace mantle, I shopped and found a perfect Chinese door lintel with authentic gold leaf finish; from that, I brought the design down into the fireplace’s burgundy-colored Italian marble surround. Coffered ceilings brought a traditional feel back, complemented by golden maple-stained wainscoting around the entirety of the lobby. Wood-burning fireplaces were a requirement for all Kimpton Group Boutique Hotel properties, making the lobbies feel more like living rooms. 

There were nine townhouse suites, divided into three groups of three styles: Starlight, Townhouse Suites with two stories and private interior staircase, and unique guest rooms with hot soaking tubs. The first two were concierge-level accommodations with their own living room, wine tastings, and concierge services. 

Northern Lights, Wineries and Fashionable Rooms

In the townhouses, the lower level consisted of the living and powder rooms, with the bedroom and full bathroom on the upper floors. The sloping greenhouse windows of the Starlight Rooms presented a challenge for window treatments. I devised a pseudo-drapery track system, installed on the greenhouse window mullions. This allowed guests to raise them from the bottom up, providing total privacy so they could view the northern lights at night.

Finally, to reflect the growing vintner culture in Oregon, I used a wine theme throughout, including in the fireplace lounge and the basement wine cellar. The back of the main lobby is a peek-a-boo glass wall, where hotel guests have a view into the restaurant’s wine tasting room. Off the main hotel entrance is a mini-lobby, and there I had an artist create a vignette with a mirror, detailed with gold-leaf grapes and vines. Even the huge molding on top of the wainscoting was vine-patterned. For consistency, each guest room in this boutique hotel took the name of a local winery, and the details all carried nods to wine.

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