Overlooking Santa Anita Park race track in Arcadia, CA, a three-story office building has been revitalized as part of the Hilton Arcadia, a 173-room full-service hotel that also features a newly constructed six-story tower.
When Cory Creath, founding principal, AXIS Architecture + Design, which served as the architect of record for the project, first saw the office building, he had one question in mind: Could it accommodate two guestrooms on either side with a corridor in the middle?
He found that the building’s 65-ft. width—closer to 68 ft, by his estimate—did allow for a double-loaded corridor and generously proportioned rooms.
“The result is a comfortably wide corridor and room modules that work beautifully,” he said. “The real benefit of an office building compared to a typical hotel is the floor-to-floor height. In this case, we have wonderful ceiling heights—at least 10 ft.—and that’s a luxury.”
The transformation began with a complete gutting of the original structure.
“We stripped the office building bare,” said Creath. “That gave us the freedom to lay out a rigorous Hilton-standard room module without any constraints. We also reclad the entire building, which gave us even more flexibility.”
While the project involved extensive renovation, the design team retained key structural components.
“What we kept was the structural steel frame and the metal pan floors filled with concrete,” Creath explained. “We didn’t have to build new foundations or superstructure, which represents a huge cost savings.”
Inside, the interiors, crafted by Atwater Inc. Studio, bring warmth and sophistication to the reimagined space. “Their rooms are beautiful,” noted Creath, who added, “What makes these rooms feel so special is the added ceiling height. We’ve got at least a foot more height than you typically experience in a standard hotel room, and that completely changes the sense of space.”
The ground floor of the original office building now serves as the social heart of the hotel. “Entering through the porte cochère and into the lobby, the design immediately feels expansive,” said Creath. “You’ll see directly into the lobby bar and lounge—that’s the focal feature of the space. Off that lounge, there’s a three-meal restaurant, and to the left, there’s a separate, independently operated restaurant. All of that is housed within the footprint of the original office building.”
Meanwhile, the newly constructed wing, built by R.D. Olson Construction, contains a ballroom, additional guestrooms and back-of-house space.
“The existing office building is a long, rectangular bar shape, and the new building wraps around it in an L,” Creath said. “The ballroom is a double-height space supported by a catering kitchen and back-of-house areas, with a mezzanine level above for administrative functions. The goal with the guestrooms was not to have two different classes—they all needed to feel equivalent to each other.”
Creath noted that the nearby race track was the inspiration for the hotel’s exterior.
“It’s such an iconic, Art Deco–inspired landmark, and we wanted the hotel to have a dialogue with that design language,” he said. “We incorporated elements like chevron patterns we found at the racetrack as decorative screens, and used concave, fluted metal panels that subtly undulate to catch the light and shadow.”
