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Deary grew up in Detroit. Michael Poris,
principal of his namesake architecture
firm, came back to the city, his hometown,
in the '90s with the intention of making a
difference and has been saving buildings
from demolition ever since. Michael
Kitchen, vice president of acquisitions and
development for Aparium and Michigan
State alum, says there's a kind of all-handson-deck creative community striving to
make the city better. "Everyone has their
arms linked. You had executive level
marketing guys coming back and launching
denim shops [in the hotel]. The last thing
they wanted was an out-of-towner coming
in. [Locals] would see through that, chew it
up, and spit it out."
In fact, the overall design concept was
inspired by "coming home to Detroit."
Explains Kitchen: "There's a forgotten
romance in Detroit. It was the Paris of the
Midwest. It has some of the best [Beaux-Arts
and midcentury] architecture in the country.
We had to embrace that." To that end, the
decision was made to keep everything
they could, and then make everything else
extremely modern to butt against it.
The team worked to inventory, reclaim,

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and repurpose interior wood trim from the
building and other abandoned buildings
throughout Detroit-much of it is now
prominently displayed as a feature wall in
guestrooms. Brick and concrete were left
exposed; original white subway tile covers
the walls; historic hallways haphazardly
run through some of the more than 50
different room types; the lobby features
screens made of burned timbers and
radiators salvaged from torn down houses
and businesses; and on the side of the
building, a faded mural by 92-year-old local
artist Charles McGee has been preserved.
"Detroit is scrappy," says Poris. "The
people are scrappy. They're tinkerers. And
inventors. That's how Motown and Ford
happened here. That spirit-a big part of
what's happening in the city-is what we
wanted to keep."
To contrast the industrial look, every
piece of FF&E was custom designed with
a contemporary, sculptural sensibility.
"The whole building is a celebration of
engineering and manufacturing," says
Deary. "But instead of being rough, each
piece is artistic." Inspired by General
Motors' Damsels of Design (the first

prominent all female car design team in
American history), soft feminine curves and
luxe velvets in color palettes based on their
contributions-beautiful blue and pink hues,
and stripes and plaids-abound. It's this
juxtaposition against the engineered and
masculine furniture styles and details that
Deary says gives the property its energy.
It's the craftsman, creators, and makers
of Detroit, however, that truly offer the
property a rare vibrancy. The hotel boasts
45 collaborations, including a podcast studio
with four groups currently in residency,
teasers completed with local filmmakers,
and the aforementioned Detroit Denim Co.
that created the uniforms, to name a few.
The restaurant also marks another Michigan
homecoming: Michelin-starred chef Thomas
Lents returned to head up the aptly named
Apparatus Room (its grand space used to
house fire engines). A few nights a week,
his chef's table serves as an incubator for
visiting chefs, culinary school grads, or just
a scrappy newcomer who wants to tinker
around in the spirit of Detroit. hd
mcintoshporis. co m; s i m eon ed ea r y.co m;
apariu m. com; det roi t fo unda ti o n h otel.com
http://www.mcintoshporis.com http://www.simeonedeary.com http://www.aparium.com http://www.detroitfoundationhotel.com http://www.hospitalitydesign.com
Hospitality Design - September 2017

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