Hotel Yountville
Yountville, CaliforniaLocal developer and real estate investor George Altamura’s goal for the 2011 renovation of the former Yountville Inn, originally constructed in 1998, was to elevate the hotel experience and create a destination on par with the luxury hotels and resorts throughout the Napa Valley. The redesign would bring a more contemporary design language to the hotel’s traditional architecture and grounds, while expanding and enhancing the indoor/outdoor experience the wine country is known for.
The overall effect of the renovation is restorative, providing hotel guests with a more immersive, authentic experience of the land and grounds. Adding two new buildings increased the hotel capacity from 51 to 80 rooms, and created room for a reimagined restaurant offering fine dining. Roche+Roche designed the new pool area, spa gardens, outdoor dining patio and outdoor fire pit lounge terrace, set against the backdrop of one of the oldest heritage oaks in the valley. The former pool area has been transformed into a lobby terrace with shade arbor, fireplace and water feature.
Roche+Roche was retained to bring a more natural, authentic approach to the landscape, in keeping with the more contemporary overall design aesthetic. The team began by reducing the existing lawns, and replacing the existing emphasis on colorful annual flora in favor of a softer palette of perennial plantings and ornamental grasses. Every ground floor room now has its own private outdoor garden space.
By restoring the riparian zone habitat along the creek that runs through the rear of the property, Roche+Roche not only revived the ecological health of the landscape, but transformed the creek into a more integrated element of the hotel guest experience.
Landscape Construction: Carlos Landscape, Inc.
Photography: Courtesy of Hotel Yountville