When The Ahwahnee Hotel opened in 1927, the entire sixth floor was a large open ballroom. Several years later it was converted to the private residence of the president of the concession, Donald Tressider, and his wife, Mary Curry Tressider – the couple who built and had originally operated the hotel. In the 1970s, the sixth floor was remodeled again as public guest rooms and parlors, and the last redecoration of that floor in the 1990s was still welcoming guests who stepped off the elevator in 2010 with a pallet of deep pink and black, accented with glossy white trim. That lobby and each of the four guest suites were due for a complete overhaul – a project that, for us, began again with extensive research in the National Park Service archives.
Because the entire floor had been private family quarters, there’s virtually no historic photographic record of it. Even if we had found any useful visual documentation, the floor itself had been so completely reworked to create guest suites that it largely obliterated the original rooms and most clues as to how they might have looked. With little else to go on beyond our knowledge of the period and the hotel, we approached this project as if Donald and Mary were our clients. Our research informed our view of the Tressider’s tastes and shaped our recommendations for colors, textiles, upholstery, case goods, and lighting. We know they were Anglophiles who especially like the Colonial Williamsburgh Style – evident in a few vestiges of their decorating taste like the chandeliers in the library. Out goal was to create a restrained and tasteful design reflective of the period, respectful of the Tressider’s point of view, and functional for modern hotel guests in a modern age.
We refreshed the rooms while maintaining a historic point of view, using only high quality, American-made furnishings and accessories. Our work restored some historic integrity, improved function, and added interpretive value. We hope the Tressiders would have approved.
Elevator Lobby
Stepping off the elevator on the sixth floor is a different from stepping off on any other floor. Guests step into a foyer dressed with a damask-style wallpaper and a pair of English reproduction bowback chairs (perhaps the most comfortable wooden chairs ever). The chairs flank a three-drawer console with a well-proportioned pair of lamps framing a Persian-inspired mirror. Crossing the threshold leading to room 605, a contrasting paper lines the walls and provide a handsome background for newly framed historic photos which tell some of the story and convey some of the history of the park, the hotel, and the family that once operated it.
601 The Mather
Two wicker pieces and the turned wooden lamp tie this room back to 603, and a nail-head trimmed upholstered headboard is paired with a steel platform that eliminates the dust ruffle on a bed dressed in Matouk linens. Framed English botanicals of ferns decorate the walls.
603 The Sunporch
A connecting door from 601 leads to The Sunporch. Inspired by archive photos showing the Tressiders entertaining in this space, we re-introduced several high-quality pieces of wicker along with an upholstered queen sleep sofa, anchored on a hand-woven rug. A small refrigerator is integrated in a serving credenza adjacent to the casual dining area.
607 The Spencer
Because this light-filled room is so often rented along with 601/603, we’ve treated it as an extension, using a complementary color palette and furnishings, including a wicker tea table flanked by two wicker dining chairs. The dimensional room number signs we designed for this floor reflect geometric shapes found elsewhere in the hotel.
604 The Library
A decidedly masculine space with classic English appointments, this paneled room is divided into four zones – a handsome writing desk with bowback chair; a fireside seating area anchored by spool chairs and loveseat, a casual dining area with platform table and upholstered chairs (easily expanded for in-room dining with larger parties), and another seating area with wingback, queen sleep sofa and a fourth bowback chair. As with the sunroom, for practical purposes we’ve specified a credenza that integrates a refrigerator and quartz/granite top for food and beverage service.
602 The Underwood
Appointed with a poster bed, English style dresser and armchairs and a brass floor lamp.
605 The Tressider
With softer lines and graceful patterning, this is the more feminine counterpoint to the library, dressed in blue and gold with softer lines and graceful patterns in the carpet, upholstery and bedding. We replace the dressing table with a more functional writing and dining table and add a chaise longue in a style similar to one seen in archive photos. We’ve selected a bed with turned posts (and again, no dust skirt) and paired the chaise longue with turned pedestal table. The spool chair and brass lamps reference back to the library.
