Post Company recently completed the design of The LaFayette Hotel and Swim Club, a San Diego landmark built in 1946.
The studio opted to create a series of multi-layered and multi-sensory spaces which channel the feel of the Grand Hotels of the early 1900s.
Upon arrival, guests ascend a grand staircase and enter a lobby flooded with natural light. Gilded with rich plastered crown moldings, tumbled vintage chequered marble floors and crystal chandeliers, the entryway is home to a diminutive front desk, which functions as an extension of the lobby bar. Through a curtained wall, the circular, wooden lobby bar is accompanied by a soaring glass ceiling and surrounded by delicate banquettes with wrought iron lamps. The lobby bathrooms, also on-theme, are interpretations of a Grand Hotel water closet, with decorative tiles, deep basin sinks and aged unlacquered brass fixtures that speak to the golden era.
Guestrooms at The LaFayette Hotel are rooted in a fusion of traditional Victorian, Tudor and Gothic details. Rich saturations of colour, texture and pattern envelop guests in spaces that include wallpaper ceilings, fabric-draped canopy beds and burled bar carts.
Outdoors, a terracotta patio cascades down towards a checkered pool and connecting deck. Abundant bougainvillea, citrus and jasmine surround guest patios and porches, while bright-coloured and scalloped umbrellas shade chairs around the pool’s perimeter.
The hotel’s various dining experiences include Beginner’s Diner, Mezcal Bar, Continental Room and Jungle Bar & Mississippi Room. Spa and wellness areas meanwhile have been inspired by Russian, Roman and Turkish baths, and a games room draws on the aesthetic of pre-Modernist movements and abstract noir films.
