Adaptive-reuse project Hotel West & Main is breathing new life into historic land. As the first new-build hotel in Conshohocken, PA, in two decades, the property sits on the former site of a 146-year-old historic firehouse.
“Our hotel is inside a historic firehouse built in 1874, which brings a tangible character to the story of the hotel,” said Leslie Schultz, SVP, design, Interior Image Group (IIG), the firm responsible for the hotel’s interior design and branding. “Our inspiration came from bringing the people from these neighborhoods together by creating a new social club concept.”
The hotel houses 127 guestrooms, two distinct culinary experiences and sky bar, an upscale fitness center and more than 5,000 sq. ft. of flexible event space, including both indoor and outdoor options.
The property, which joined Hilton’s Tapestry Collection, was built by Keystone and is managed by Concord Hospitality, with DLR Group spearheading architecture.
F&B space Hook & Ladder connects the two buildings.
“Hotel West & Main overlooks the point in the Schuylkill River where generations of workers, travelers and goods have traversed between the Main Line, a neighboring community where some of Philadelphia’s wealthiest families populated sprawling country estates to the West, into downtown Conshohocken to the East,” Schultz said. “Hotel West & Main bridges Conshohocken’s gritty industrial heritage with the Main Line’s elegant grandeur.”
The hotel’s name, Schultz explained, represents the coming together of the Conshohocken and Main Line communities to a local destination that welcomes guests to come as they are and feel “part of the club.”
“The design was influenced heavily by the local history and culture,” she said. “Every design decision we made was through the lens of trying to find a modern balance of the city’s industrial past; the influence of the Main Line’s grandeur; the stories from the locals who helped provide us the inspiration for much of our artwork; and the historical firehouse itself, which provided tangible items that were repurposed with new life to tell a truly authentic story.”
The hotel’s public spaces and guestrooms reflect modern, masculine design, while the decor and finishes consist of blues and neutrals with wooden and leather textures. There are brass and industrial finishes throughout.
The space marries both the old with the new, as the six-story hotel is linked to the three-story firehouse. The project included a renovation of the firehouse with the construction of the hotel tower.
“Our challenges were mainly focused around creating a design that also celebrated and restored the original elements of the firehouse to a like-new condition,” Schultz said. “We also had the challenge of marrying the building to the new tower and worked to make it a smooth and practically unnoticeable transition from one building to the next. We brought some of the historic elements into the lobby lounge space and used complimentary materials, flooring and furnishings to bridge those spaces together.”
For Hook & Ladder—the hotel’s second floor sky bar, which serves as the link between the two buildings—IIG worked with the architect to create an indoor/outdoor space with skylights and an open-back bar that allowed the exterior of the firehouse to be visible and highlighted.
“At night, the bell tower is beautifully lit, which you can see from your seat inside the bar just by looking through the skylight,” Schultz said.
She added that inside the second floor of the firehouse, IIG created a series of spaces that became the dining rooms for the restaurant that were once the dormitory spaces for the firemen.
“With intricate wood and metal trim work on the walls, tin ceilings, original hardwood floors, stained glass windows and two grand crystal chandeliers, we had to find a way to restore all of these elements while also creating a space that still felt hip, approachable and modern for today’s patrons,” Schultz said. “We married these historical, formal feeling spaces with modern furnishings and grounded each space with industrial suspended trough planters that helped create an undeniable vibe.”
From the beginning of the project, Schultz explained, the team immersed themselves in the community to understand what makes Conshohocken unique in order to create truly authentic design. IIG met with locals who told stories that inspired many of the design features, details and touchpoints throughout.
“We created more than a cool hotel and an authentic social club for the community,” she said. “The best projects evoke a special feeling, sometimes one that you can’t quite put your finger on, but you know that it makes you feel good.”
