Martin Lawrence Bullard, an award-winning LA designer, turned an old Los Angeles mansion into a fashionable hotel inspired by Hollywood’s Golden Age movies. The hotel got the name Prospect Hollywood.
On the list of Martyn Lawrence-Bullard celebrity clients there are Cher, Tommy Hilfiger and Elton John. The designer’s interiors are always at the crossroads of eras and styles, so when it became known about the PRG group’s plans to open a boutique hotel in the Whitley Heights area in Los Angeles, it was decided to invite him as the project designer.
The Prospect Hollywood Hotel is located in an elegant 1939 Regency building. Celebrities used to buy apartments in this building, but later it became unsuitable for habitation.
Bullard’s project carefully restored historical details, such as stucco on the walls and ceiling, are combined with modern details. The courtyard is surrounded by gardens, it immerses guests in the atmosphere of the old district. Unlike many modern luxury hotels in steel and glass, Prospect Hollywood looks like a modest residence with striped awnings over the windows and a cherry red front door.
Inside the hotel everything is different: the restrained England is replaced by bright Hollywood. Marble floors with geometric patterns, emerald green walls and gilded pilasters palm trees emphasize Bullard’s desire to return to the golden age of 1930-1940s in America. Velvet banquets are combined with brass accents, bright decorative pillows and objects of modern art.
“We are located in the heart of Los Angeles, but surrounded by major hotel chains. They don’t feel like a real Hollywood”, the designer notes.
In this project Bullard was inspired by the work of Billy Haines and Tony Duquette. The designer himself admits: “I have been fascinated by this style for a long time, I studied it a lot and even lived in Whitley Heights many years ago.”
The hotel has 24 rooms, designed with custom-made wallpapers, leopard print carpets, antique furniture and many works of art – there are no rules for Bullard, and surprises are waiting around every corner. Their design is inspired by Hollywood icons. So, in the Mata Hari suit, one of Bullard’s favorite rooms, there are old movie posters and photographs by Greta Garbo hang on the walls with chinoiserie-style wallpapers. In each suit you can find small souvenirs from the past, such as old postcards and movie tickets.
The pieces of art for the Prospect Hollywood hotel have been delivered from a variety of locations, including the Texas Round Top Antiques Fair. The designer bought a collection of old French paintings there. “I wanted everything to look like some crazy old artist came here in the 1930s and paid for the hotel stay with his paintings,” he says.
READ ALSO:
NEW BOUTIQUE HOTEL IN BARCELONA – SIR VICTOR