"The Colony is much more than a hotel—The Colony is a state of mind," says Sarah Wetenhall. Admittedly, Wetenhall is a bit biased—she, along with her husband Andrew, have been the owners of this iconic Palm Beach property since 2016. But, as any local or loyal visitor can attest, the famed pink hotel is a beloved stalwart of the Florida town—and a nostalgic bastion of the kind of preppy beach style that made Palm Beach famous. Now, thanks to Kemble Interiors's Celerie Kemble and Mimi McMakin—with help from de Gournay—the hotel has a brand new (but still wholly Palm Beach) look.
When it first opened, in 1947, The Colony sat at the epicenter of the kind of resort style later immortalized in photographs by Slim Aarons; well-heeled holiday makers lounged under scalloped umbrellas by the hotel pool and the building's pink façade—as well as its mascot monkey—became synonymous with the Palm Beach lifestyle. In 2014, Dorothy Draper protégé Carleton Varney gave the hotel a multimillion dollar makeover, infusing the interiors with Draper trademarks, like Braziliance wallpaper and black-and-white floors.
Now, as the so-called Grand Dame of Palm Beach approaches its 75th birthday, the Wetenhalls have set out to refresh it for a new generation of vacationers, turning it into a modern hotel concept without sacrificing any of the Old Palm Beach style. "We want to preserve The Colony's legacy of gracious hospitality while ensuring continued relevance to a new generation of modern, well-traveled and discerning guests," explains Wetenhall.
And no one, the hotelier figured, understands that concept better than Mimi McMakin and Celerie Kemble, the mother-daughter team behind Kemble Interiors. McMakin lives in Palm Beach full-time and Kemble, who was born there, just completed a highly-lauded reimagining of the 100-year-old Mayflower Inn in Connecticut.
Lobby
Brantley Photography
Brantley Photography
Central to the plans for the renovation was a desire to eschew the traditional check-in desk/bellhop station/elevator bank lobby model in favor of a welcoming space for relaxing—an entrance that would invite lingering, not prompt guests to run for their rooms. "What we were hoping is that it would become an iconic meeting place," says McMakin. "That people would sit by the fire—maybe there would even be a proposal there, or a wedding photograph."
To achieve this, McMakin and Kemble approached the lobby as though it were, well, a living room. The centerpiece of the design is a fantastical de Gournay mural that spans the entire lobby. The wallcovering was born out of something much smaller: a postcard Wetenhall found from the hotel's grand opening in 1947. "It had a chic black terrazzo floor, juxtaposed again a mural titled ‘The Early Days of Palm Beach,'" Wetenhall recalls of the original designs.
To the Kemble team, a mural presented the perfect opportunity to both solve a design problem and tell a story: "The room has these big high ceilings, these fantastic proportions, but we wanted it to be an inviting place to sit," says McMakin, who worked closely with Wetenhall and the de Gournay team to devise a motif that channelled the playfulness of Old Palm Beach—without veering kitschy.
Brantley Photography
"We are both very creative and wanted to do something that felt unique to the setting," says de Gournay director Hannah Cecil Gurney. "Sarah envisaged the installation as a ‘Love Letter’ to the hotel. The ‘Pink Palace’ is such an iconic location with its own unique mythology."
For the mural, the de Gournay team endeavored to translate that mythology to the walls. "Sarah gave us full use of her ‘Brand Bible’ – a reference book containing specifics of the colors associated with The Colony and its interiors, material on the famous aquaculture and its history as a destination for glamorous types from all eras," recalls Gurney. "It also contained lovely illustrations of characters that had already been created for The Colony who we could then incorporate into the wallpaper, and information on the original mural itself —all of which makes up this wonderful folklore around the hotel."
Once designs were settled upon by the de Gournay, Kemble, and Colony teams, de Gournay's team of artists painstakingly hand painted every last bird, leaf, and branch.
Despite the intensive, artful process behind its murals, "they appreciate the whimsy," McMakin says of de Gournay: "If we are showing flamingos, they have to have necklaces—the alligators have to have butterflies butterflies flying around them because it's Palm Beach and everybody's happy. The parrots have nests and in the nests are Easter eggs" (design choices, McMakin recalls, that resulted in some "hysterical Zoom calls").
Of course, it's all set against the hotel's trademark pink, here in a handmade Asian rice-paper that exudes a worn-in feel despite its fresh application: "It has this really wonderful texture, which is beautifully uneven and picks up the paint in a dappled way," says Gurney. "It gives a lovely aged effect that makes it feel as though it’s been on the walls for hundreds of years."
To balance out all that pink, the designers brought back the shiny black floors—the perfect foil to de Gournay's tropical jungle and the room's resort-style furnishings.
Swifty's
Brantley Photography
The hotel's theme of reinvented classics continues to the restaurant, which is a revival of the beloved New York eatery that shuttered in 2016. "It was just adored by everyone," says McMakin of the restaurant, which was know for a warm, comfortable vibe that attracted bold-faced names who wanted to dine without fuss. "Replicating that at The Colony was going to be difficult."
So instead of attempting to recreate the design, she and Kemble opted to channel the restaurant's friendly feel. "The space was made as intimate as Swifty's was in New York, with a touch of that velvet elegance and those banquettes all in a row, so you could lean over and talk to someone." Instead of dark leather, though, the banquettes are a celadon velvet, and walls are covered in a grasscloth printed with palm trees.
Outdoor Dining Area
Brantley Photography
The one thing this Swifty's has that New York's didn't? Outdoor dining. "Obviously, we had to extend Swifty's outdoors because, in Palm Beach, everyone wants to go outdoors," says McMakin. Hanging plants and climbing vines give a sheltered affect that mimics the intimacy of the indoor restaurant.
Pool
Brantley Photography
Kemble also gave the pool area a refresh, outfitting it with rattan furniture and scallop-trim umbrellas that recall Palm Beach's glory days—without looking dated. Cheerful, comfortable, and just a bit playful—with any amenity right at your fingertips—it's the essence of what the hotel hopes to be.
Though McMakin is astutely aware of the current hold on travel—"I haven't been on a plane in a year," she says—she hopes that this kind of thoughtful, inviting design will be all the more appreciated when we begin to check into hotels more freely: "If I'm going to go somewhere after this, I want to go where it's great," she muses. "I want to go where it's just the prettiest, the best, the most fun. I want to be taken care of, to be treated as though I'm special. That's what The Colony does so well."
Editors' note: As COVID-19 continues to be a threat in the U.S., House Beautiful encourages compliance with CDC guidelines around travel and dining. We will continue to spotlight great hotel design as we look forward to traveling again.
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