A Sneak Peek at the Ivy Hotel in Baltimore

As I said yesterday, the Ivy Hotel in Baltimore is getting ready to make its debut after being closed for a decade or so. The city actually owned this building and used it for hotel and meeting space. It had the less-than-charming name of Government House Inn. About 20 years ago, they refurbished it, and did it over in full Victorian mode and it hadn’t been touched since.

Enter the Azola Group and the Garrett Hotel Consultants who teamed up to make this Baltimore’s best little boutique hotel. They promptly bought the adjacent building and began the make-over process. Out with all of the Victorian and in with a more classical look. Although the furniture wasn’t installed yet – the place needs a good cleaning after all of the construction work – I saw some bits and pieces and it looks terrific. Each of the 18 guest rooms/suites will be completely different.

Many of the rooms have the original fireplaces and some of them have been faux painted in wood or marble finishes.

I was fascinated with the firebox of the fireplace above – the iron is in a flame pattern!

One of the fireplaces even had the 1812 War Memorial Monument painted on it – the same symbol that is in the Baltimore flag. All of the “stone” on this mantle is faux painted.

Many of the hotel’s original floors are intact, and where they aren’t, the carpenters have matched them.

There are lots of interesting chandeliers and lanterns throughout the hotel, and it’s fun to decide which are new and which are original.

The most amazing light, and of course, the hardest one to photograph, was the one hanging all the way through the center staircase!

One of the rooms I liked the best was the small private dining room, with its bank of old windows and tooled and painted leather wallcoverings.

The hotel is filled with small details that make it special.

 Oeil-de-boeuf Window over the bathtub

One of two sets of interior stained glass windows. The walls, hard to see, are painted in glimmering and flat gold stripes.

The skylight, with the hanging lantern.

A massive wall, hand-painted to look like Portuguese tiles.

The Azola group cleverly added a glass hyphen and whole new wing to the hotel, which echoes the original building. In doing this, they created an interior courtyard.

Here are some of the other rooms we saw.

Fun bathroom fixtures

David’s drawing room with the stunning hand-painted murals. I know how hard these were to create!

Drawing room with the hand-painted tile.

Main parlour

And then there was the original safe. One of the absolute BEST things about the hotel is something that the public will never even see: the chef’s kitchen with this seriously fabulous stove.When I spotted it, I swear, I heard angels singing! It’s a Molteni range, specifically crafted for this space and Chef Mark Levy’s needs. It was shipped from the South of France in locked crates.

The other thing in the kitchen that caught my eye was the collection of bright and shiny new copper pots and pans!

Thanks to the AIA’s Historic Resources Committee, the Azola Group and the Ivy Hotel in Baltimore for hosting our group! More information on the Ivy Hotel is here. I am hoping to get an invitation to come back just before they open, so I can show you the finished project!