Hospitality Design - February 2018 - 83

The corner suite's sitting room in the NoMad
Los Angeles offers city views, while floral
upholstery reinforces its Italian aesthetic

Housed in the former home of the Bank of Italy, the NoMad Los Angeles'
lobby mixes luxurious jewel tones with preserved original details

buildings, including two hotels from sbe-an
SLS and a Mondrian, part of the development
of the tallest building in the western U.S.-a
Soho House in the Arts District, and a Park
Hyatt (the brand's first West Coast property)
with hotel and residences by Toronto firm
Studio Munge. Residential towers are also on the
rise-in fact, according to the Downtown Center
Business Improvement District, close to 10,000
units are under construction. At the same time,
developers are clamoring to provide office space
to support the burgeoning tech economy and
other creative companies looking to move to the
area. As a result, there is a continued building
boom of amenities catering to those who live,
work, and visit downtown for business (more
than 800 new restaurants, bars, retail outlets,
and other amenities opened between 2008 and
2016 alone), including a robust food scene, as
well as the swell of new cultural institutions like
the Broad museum and the Hauser & Wirth
gallery in the storied Globe Mills complex,
complete with exhibitions, a shop, and Manuela
restaurant, a collaboration between local studios
Creative Space and M. Winter Design.
One new hotel generating a lot of buzz is the
226-room Freehand, which opened last year. For
its upscale take on the hostel (with both private
and shared rooms), Sydell Group enlisted New
York's Roman and Williams to renovate the
1924 Commercial Exchange building into an
urban interpretation of LA's coastal vibe. It's a
seamlessly curated mix of American craftsmeninspired furnishings and work by local artists,
bright tapestries and textiles, greenery, and an
earthy color palette.
A block away in the opulent Giannini Place,
which was built in 1922 as the headquarters of
the Bank of Italy, Sydell Group also recently
opened the NoMad. Like the original New York
property, the 241-room hotel features an F&B
program helmed by chef Daniel Humm and
restaurateur Will Guidara, as well as interiors
from French architect Jacques Garcia. Where
the Manhattan hotel skews more French-meetsNew York bohemian, this property celebrates
its history, "with a tension between classical
Northern Italian and California" styles, says
CEO Andrew Zobler. Neoclassical elements
in the lobby-including ornate columns, a
gold and blue Italianate coffered ceiling, and
marble floors-have been restored, while the
design team infused the series of salons with
rich fabrics, floral patterns, custom trims and
cords, striking archways, and well-thoughtout accessories for a feel that's grand yet
intimate. That attention to detail continues in
the guestrooms with custom furnishings and
curated artwork, while the original basement

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