Best Guestroom Upscale
41st annual Gold Key Awards
Project Location
Des Moines, IA
Brand/Flag
Aparium Hotel Group
Keys
137
Services
Interiors, experiential programming
Explore the Surety Hotel
The Southern Surety Building鈥檚 adaptive reuse from a working bank to a hotel explores how architecture and design can evoke reactions and perceptions of the built environment in the ways we observe ourselves and one another.Historic Confidence Relevant for Today
Originally designed in 1913 as a banking and commercial office skyscraper, the architecture makes a statement in its elaborate American Beaux Arts Classicism vocabulary with symmetrical and flamboyant features. The open lobby, serving as local 鈥渓iving room,鈥� encourages guests to gather and features restored coffered ceilings and ground-glass transom windows that once looked down upon the former bank space. Now serving as a daytime coffee parlor and evening destination for cocktails with intimacy of a home. The designed experience results in a challenge to merge part heritage and part modernity 鈥� a parallel to how we portray ourselves and our collective stories.
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Mulberry Street Tavern
Worldly takes on traditional tavern fare are served in a vibrant setting that features a zinc bar and an open-hearth kitchen. Aptly named Mulberry Street Tavern for its Mulberry St. and 6th Ave. crossroads, this comfortable spot is reminiscent of the neighborhood staple where locals gather. Rich wood, warm red leather booths, and warm lighting make a cozy environment for an after-work drink that lingers into dinner and an eventual night-cap. The restaurant dining area features a hand-fired copper metal cookline visible from the Mulberry St. sidewalk, enticing the senses. The bar design also features additional crafted finishes with a wood and stained glass-back bar.
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Cleverly Edited but Equally Luxurious
The new hotel guestrooms evoke a humble yet sophisticated design: simple, contemplative, unadorned confidence. Taking shape from former offices outlined by original terra cotta floor plates, the rooms are thoughtfully restrained and inspired by a midwestern heirloom piece: the armoire. Subtly aligning the bathroom entry using this heritage design element, the doorway opens to expose the grooming area as one鈥檚 own cabinet of curiosity, outfitted with marble hexagon tile flooring which harkens back to the building鈥檚 original tile. Money green, hand glazed wall tile in the glass-enclosed showers are another storytelling touchpoint. Completing the space, new larger windows transform each room into a portal, harnessing the sun-filled bathrooms to pour light into the guestrooms and highlight their city views, of which some overlook the county courthouse, another piece of Des Moines history.
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In the Media
In the Details
Surety Hotel
July 10, 2023"Once the tallest building in the state, the Surety Hotel was constructed during an economic boom for the city of Des Moines, but it would cycle through a rolodex of names before finding the most befitting title." Read the history behind what's now one the now 鈥淲orld鈥檚 Best New Hotels鈥� from Accidentally Wes Anderson.
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Mixed-Use
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We use a collaborative approach to understand a local community and then curate a project vision that aligns client goals and the brand personality of a hotel within that local environment. It’s storytelling through design to deliver a unique experience for every client and their guests.