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Ace Hotel Portland

Take an online photo tour of the Ace Hotel Portland, a property that diverts from the cookie-cutter hotel and seeks to attract the artistic crowd.

Sheila Kim-Jamet -- Interior Design, 7/9/2007 9:47:00 AM

Ace Hotel Portland aspires to be neither an exclusive boutique nor a stuffy old-world opulent property. Rather, the 79-room Oregon hotel regards itself as a comfortable and affordable home away from home for the bohemian crowd. The four entrepreneurial partners—Alex Calderwood, a niche-marketing and event professional; Wade Weigel, the owner of several bars/lounges; Doug Herrick, the general manager of Ace's first hotel venture in Seattle; and Jack Barron, a former financial professional who holds a master's degree in architecture—behind this property not only conceived this idea, but they took a DIY approach when it came to the design. Working alongside designers Jeremy Pelley and Philip Iosca, they restored many of the 1912 building's historical details, such as cast-iron roll-top baths and wooden paneling and mosaic tiling in the lobby, while adding their own edgy modern twists through art, furnishings, and fixtures.

The partners particularly looked to bring in local flavor for the property. Room walls, for instance, might be emblazoned with a giant cat graphic or some other mural, installed by one of several local artists who include Evan Harris, Amy Ruppell, Trish Grantham, and Brent Wick, among others. In the hallways, guests notice the Edison light fixture—these were sourced from the 150-year-old Oregon company Schoolhouse Electric. Local manufacturer Pendleton Woolen Mills supplied custom blankets for some of the bedding, depicting the "Thompson Elk," a beloved statue situated downtown. And a Portland company who produced U.S. army dog tags during World War II was commissioned to create room door numbers and key chains.

One of the design team's goals was to create an at-home experience, rather than making cookie-cutter sleeping quarters that resembled a typical hotel. To achieve this, the partners brought in unique or uncommon furnishings, such as 100 percent organic natural rubber-latex mattresses, and custom desks that the team designed and constructed from salvaged wood. In some rooms, they incorporated old wooden apple boxes and second-hand books to double as nightstands, beds with soft headboards covered in vintage canvas of recycled army ponchos, and even turntables for the aspiring disc-jockey guest. And for the "starving" artist or musician, the Ace Hotel Portland even offers budget, dorm-like quarters that hold bunk beds and shared baths. "The Ace is not another iteration of the modern, generic design product that is now widely available," says partner Alex Calderwood. "We have reinvented a classic downtown hotel, restoring a sense of history and place while reinterpreting those details for a sense of modern bohemia."