21c Museum Hotel, Louisville, KY

Story and photography by Susan McKee

The 21c Museum Hotel,
700 West Main Street,
Louisville, KY 40202
Phone:502.217.6300
Toll-free:877.217.6400
http://www.21cmuseumhotel.com/overview/default.aspx

Most hotels are rather predictable places. You walk into the lobby, amble up to the reception desk, and soon you’re sitting in a space of your own (at least for one night). The 21c Museum Hotel in Louisville, KY, is definitely something different. Sure, it’s got rooms for the night (90 of ‘em), and a restaurant and a bar for relaxing. But it’s also got its own museum. This is the only place I’ve stayed where I spent almost as much time wandering about as hanging out in my room.

It’s impossible to talk about the 21c without mentioning the artwork – it is, after all, a museum hotel with a 5,000-square-foot exhibition space in the atrium. Some of the items are part of a permanent collection and others are temporary exhibits. When I was there, “All's Fair in Art and War: Envisioning Conflict” was on display in the street level gallery. Centerpiece was Memorial Flag, 2005, by Dave Cole. At first glance, it was a large American flag. Step closer, and it’s something else entirely. In fact, it was 18,000 plastic toy solders covered in red, white and blue acrylic paint make up the flag. The three-dimensional image is five feet by 9-1/2 feet – “regulation size” for the memorial flag draped across the casket of a military veteran.

The permanent collection includes a series of sculptures by Judy Fox standing on pedestals behind the reception desk. The four images of children – two boys and two girls – are intended to represent characters in heroic tales. But, then there are the red penguins that have become an emblem of the hotel. Actually, there are 200 of them, all plastic, each one 47 inches tall. Commissioned from the 21c Museum Hotel Room Cracking Art Group for a public project at the 2005 Venice Biennale, they now appear throughout the hotel.

My room, a corner suite on an upper floor, had all the expected amenities (including complimentary high speed internet access) – and unexpected surprises, such as an alarm clock that rolled. The rooms were designed by Deborah Berke, and the bathroom amenities are by Malin+Goetz. (Sure did like that TCHO chocolate at turn-down, too!)

For dinner, I enjoyed a delectable lamb shanks and grits in the Proof on Main, the 21c Museum Hotel Lambshanks hotel’s first-floor restaurant, but don’t count on that being on the menu when you arrive. Chef Michael Paley changes items with the seasons (this month, it’s chick pea and country ham fritters as an appetizer, Kentucky bison burger for an entrée). Desserts include gelati and sorbets, with “flavors churned daily”. For breakfast, consider my choice: “Proof Benedict”, where the English muffin is replaced by a Kentucky grits cake.

Opened in March 2006, the 21c Museum Hotel is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Every room offers iPods with custom music provided to each guest upon check in, there are 42-inch HDTV flat screen televisions, 500-threadcount sheets, sterling silver mint julep cups and nightly turn down service. The poster art in each room is available for sale. The hotel also offers a full exercise facility with a steam room, sauna and spa services.

And, here’s a tip: The same folks are planning another 21c hotel, this time in Austin, Tex.

Issue:
January
2012