Design New England - July/August 2010

fireplace, which was dismantled and rebuilt one stone at a time.

“We worked very hard to maintain the
same feeling,” Lyons says. “It’s basically the
same detailing, with the pilasters and the
beams and all the details around the doors.”
In other spaces, they managed to incorpo-
rate historic elements in subtle and sometimes
surprising ways. The ballroom, for example,
was relocated from the lobby floor to a lower
level, where guests can more easily spill out
onto outdoor terraces. One of the room’s
highlights is a bar hidden behind the framed
mirror that once hung above the old dining
room fireplace.

Royce is especially pleased with another new space: the private club room, which, with its dark paneled walls and red leather seating, is meant to evoke New York’s prestigious 21 Club.

Boston-based Niemitz Design Group created the hotel’s interiors, mixing seashore-inspired wall tones with British Colonial and Early American furnishings and details. Every guest room has water views; guests enjoying the oversize bathtubs may even slide open shutters along one wall to gaze at the ocean while they soak. In-season rates range from $495 a night to $5,000 for the four-story Tower Suite in the flag tower.

The significantly larger Ocean House politely hides much of its additional mass below grade. The effect from the street passes muster with one of the foremost guardians of the village, Chaplin B. Barnes, executive director of the Watch Hill Conservancy. “I think it fits in superbly,” Barnes says. “It gives the community a sense of a grand hotel, which is what the Ocean House was.”