Detail of the entrance to the planned hotel building on the property of the Commodore Perry Estate. Photo courtesy of Clayton & Little Architects.
UPDATE: New city filings for next week’s Historic Landmark Commission meeting include additional info on renovation plans for the Perry Estate. Architects Clayton & Little have modified their proposed porch cover structure on the front of the original mansion to meet the needs of the commission, and in the process we’ve got a better view of the overall plans for the site.
A rendering of the renovated Commodore Perry Estate, its chapel, a new restaurant, and the boutique hotel planned on the site. Image courtesy of Clayton & Little Architects.
In addition to this new rendering, there’s this quote from Holly Arthur, a project manager with Clayton & Little:
We are investing over $60mm in the first phase of restoration and redevelopment of the Estate into a 55-key small luxury hotel, restaurant, and club.
— Holly Arthur, Clayton & Little Architects
$60 million is serious business. We’ll definitely keep an eye on this project! Our original story continues below:
We learned back in June that Austin’s historic Commodore Perry Estate at 4100 Red River Street would gain a 53-room boutique hotel operated by Auberge Resorts Collection, planned for opening in 2019.
The mansion on the property, which dates back to 1927. Photo courtesy of the Commodore Perry Estate.
The 1927 mansion, located on 10 acres of estate grounds, has served as space for weddings and other events over the years, and several private schools and a convent have also occupied buildings on the property. According to new filings from last week’s meeting of the city’s Historic Landmark Commission, we’ve got a slightly clearer picture of the site’s future, which involves the addition of a two-story hotel and separate restaurant building.
Left: A map of the Perry Estate’s existing and proposed buildings, including the boutique hotel and restaurant. Right: A drawing of the proposed garden restaurant structure near Red River Street. Image courtesy of Clayton & Little Architects.
It’s important to note that although these plans bear the name of Clayton & Little Architects, they also indicate that the hotel will be designed by another unknown architecture firm. We know of the involvement of local developers Clark Lyda and Austin Pfeister, along with the Bunkhouse Group-affiliated Marchbanks Company, but the architect of the new hotel is still fuzzy. For the moment, Clayton & Little’s involvement in the property appears to be in the design of an awning for shade over the building’s south facade, along with a new gate opening in the property’s historic stone wall facing Red River Street.
However, both of these modifications require the deliberation of the Historic Landmark Commission due to the historic nature of the site, and the backup files for the recent meeting just happen to include a quick glimpse at the new 2-story boutique hotel building planned for the property. Lucky us!
A southern elevation of the planned hotel at the Commodore Perry Estate. Photo courtesy of Clayton & Little Architects.
It’s hardly the scoop of the century, but it’s interesting to see how a new construction will attempt to fit in by capturing the same design aesthetics of the 90-year-old mansion.
We don’t know a whole lot beyond these plans, except that the “future hotel use” space marked out in the map above is likely part of a phase II for the development that will add Auberge-branded residences to the property, which will include access to the hotel’s amenities. “The Residences at the Commodore Perry” has a nice ring to it.
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