Bold maximalism engulfs The Lafayette Hotel and Club in San Diego

San Diego’s hotel scene has long been, to put it bluntly, corporate. Most of the Californian city’s accommodation options are part of big chains, ready to host the businesspeople that throng to the vast convention centre for events every week. But this is starting to change. A handful of boutique and independently owned properties have cropped up to satisfy shifting traveller demands, particularly those design-savvy younger tourists visiting SD’s cultural attractions and looking for more original spaces in which to stay.

The Lafayette Hotel and Club, San Diego

The most unconventional of these new offerings is The Lafayette Hotel and Club, a recently revitalised ‘city within a city’ in the North Park neighbourhood, which has shunned cookie-cutter blandness in favour of bold, maximalist interiors that provide a different atmosphere in each space. Designed by Brooklyn-based Post Company – the studio behind many of America’s top hotels and restaurants over the past few years – The Lafayette Hotel and Club is operated by CH Projects and offers a multifaceted program of spaces, each drawing references from local landmarks or bygone travel eras. Reviving a Colonial-style hotel originally built in 1946, the team’s abundantly colourful and pattern-filled vision is executed across the property and branding, creating a destination that’s cohesive in its visual chaos.

The 139-key property occupies two-and-a-half acres across a city block and is laid out symmetrically, with the outdoor pool and patio along its central axis. Hotel guests and those with day passes can relax here on leopard-print loungers, placed below green-and-white striped parasols and atop checkerboard floor tiles, in a space that Post Company designed to evoke ’1980s luxury inspired by the Amalfi Coast.′ On the upper level, the U-shaped pool bar is tucked into a corner and covered by a canopy, described by the designers as ‘simultaneously composed and excessive.’

The lobby reminds of an eccentric historic theatre, where time-worn ceiling mouldings, glass chandeliers, heavy curtains, and fringed seating all nod to the heyday of Old Hollywood. Beyond, the circular lobby bar is positioned under a huge skylight and flanked by wrought-iron lamp posts. Guests can order their inventive cocktails while perched on pink-covered bar stools – also with fringe – or enjoy them on curved wooden banquettes topped with orange velvet cushions. At night, the lighting is lowered to a dim glow from the lamp posts, small table lamps, and four globes that surround a statue of Atlas at the bar’s centre.

Other dining and drinking options include Beginner’s Diner, which draws upon the hotel’s original 1940s era through its chrome storefront and bold neon signage and serves typical Americana dishes with traditional Greek and Jewish food influences. The Gutter is modelled on American Golden Age industrialist Henry Frick’s personal bowling alley at the base of his New York City home, now the Frick Museum. Wrapped in rich mahogany, the space allows guests to bowl strikes while sipping Manhattans, offering ‘a whimsical escape to a distant era of leisure.’

Oaxacan mezcalería Quixote was designed around a deconstructed Catholic church in Mexico, while at the newly opened jazz club and music venue Lou Lou’s Jungle Room, cheetah sculptures form the door handles and sit atop half walls inside. A restored cast-concrete clamshell backdrop for the stage is echoed in the scalloped backs of glossy red dining chairs.

Guest rooms and suites are signalled by embroidered silk banners and reached via atmospherically lit corridors lined with marbled red wallpaper that matches the hue of doors and wainscoting. Inside, a visual cacophony of dark-hued patterns – think zebra, tropical leaves, scenic landscapes, and more – are layered across walls and upholstery to create a dramatic mood. This is enhanced by burgundy carpets (or Moroccan terracotta tiles in the poolside suites), dark wood furniture, custom bar carts designed by Paul McGee, and, in some cases, lavish canopy beds. ‘Each room has its own niche, but warm colours and florid tones tie the spaces together into a united community where all guests feel tranquil, a classically Southern Californian aesthetic,’ said the design team.

Earlier this year, The Lafayette debuted a series of three- and four-bedroom bungalows that follow the same over-the-top interior aesthetic but offer residential amenities like kitchens, dining and living rooms suitable for families or large groups. With these new additions, even more guests can experience The Lafayette’s unique approach to interior design and swap the soulless corporate hotel chains for a much more theatrical experience.

The Lafayette Hotel and Club is located at 2223 El Cajon Blvd, San Diego, CA 92104, United States, lafayettehotelsd.com