This bar and restaurant in Salt Lake City is designed by Brooklyn-based Home Studios as an updated, American take on the brasseries of Europe.
The Laurel Brasserie and Bar opened in February 2022 inside The Grand America Hotel, a palatial building on South Main Street in the heart of downtown Salt Lake City.
The hotel was built in 2001 with interiors based on classic European styles. Home Studios retained these influences for the brasserie, but with a contemporary spin to create bright and colourful spaces for casual family-style dining.
“The menu is fueled by the client’s love for European food, culture and design, filtered through a decidedly American sensibility,” said Home Studios founder Oliver Haslegrave.
“So we sought out to create that environment and treat it like an extension of the client’s home, where a collection of European heirlooms and treasures have been passed down from generation to generation,” he added.
The establishment is split into several rooms, each of which has a distinct design and colour scheme.
For grab-and-go coffee and pastries, Bonne Vie features duck-egg-blue millwork, a checkerboard marble floor, and crushed velvet chairs in pastel tones.
Opal globe lights mounted on brass fixtures continue from the patisserie into the main dining room, where cherry-red leather covers banquette seating that forms a strip down the centre.
A symmetrical procession of columns with chamfered corners are wrapped in reclaimed tile and connect with sculptural ceiling beams.
The wood-panelled bar faces both the restaurant and an adjacent seating area for enjoying cocktails, surrounded by tall arched windows framed with green marble.
“Laurel is grounded in the present but full of history — and thoroughly unique,” Haslegrave said.
“We incorporated a wealth of materials to elicit an upscale brasserie with approachable warmth.”
An additional dining space is decorated in a spectrum of blue hues. A bold floral-patterned carpet and illustrated wall coverings are joined by velvet chairs and walnut-topped tables.
This room also features a green blown-glass chandelier and olive trees placed between the windows.
Antiques and vintage pieces are also scattered through the interiors, overall creating a “transportive guest experience that feels right at home within the context of the Grand America Hotel”.
“We sought to create a distinctly modern and American spin on the classic all-day brasserie, built to delight and inspire locals and tourists alike,” said Haslegrave, who set up Home Studios in 2009.
The firm has a growing portfolio of hospitality projects across the US, with recent additions including the Alsace LA hotel with Mediterranean influences and The Harvey House restaurant in a Wisconsin train station.
The photography is by Brian W Ferry.
Source: Rooms - dezeen.com
