Looking closely, one will find it's no accident that the decor and design of The Alluvian resembles that of the "alluvial plain" of the Mississippi Delta.
At first glance, The Alluvian attracts its visitors and guests with rich hues, clean lines and classic, yet elegant furnishings. The eye is drawn to even the smallest of details, including the eclectic offering of fresh flowers, the bold carpeting, the wispy patterns on the lofty curtains and the inviting comfort of enormous couches and oddly shaped chairs.
But, look again, and The Alluvian reveals itself in a more earthy way. It's subtle, but once noticed, it's very distinct.
Beginning on the first floor, the artwork begins to mimic the Mississippi Delta in all its glory. As the floors progress upward, the artistry flows from earth and foliage to earth meets sky and, finally, skyscapes. The detailed story of an alluvial plain is told on the walls of this new hotel that is already full of history.
The artwork is a combination of colorful paintings and black-and-white photography.
According to Jim Seale of John-Richard, who served as consultant for the artwork, all of the paintings were commissioned, and the artists were given a specific size. The theme was in keeping with the Delta landscape.
"We think of the Delta as a dull, monotonous landscape, but it was interesting to see how the artists saw the landscape, the variety of their interpretations," Seale said.
Fifteen painters each contributed one work, including Seale.
"Who would think you would give these artists the same subject and they would come back with such a varied collection?" Seale said. "It's the finest collection of Mississippi Delta artists that I'm aware of."
The artwork features a range of styles, from delicate watercolors to bold abstracts.
The photography was done by seven photographers, and there are 67 photos hung in the hall corridors, with another 185 or so in the guest rooms.
As for the hotel itself, Fred and Margaret Carl pictured what was to be by recollecting hotel experiences from their travels around the world.
"We envisioned the style we wanted, along with their travels, and it was a combination of these that was the end result," said Jondi Brackeen, general manager of The Alluvian.
The benchmark hotel that served as a major inspiration is The XV Beacon in Boston, which the Carls and Brackeen had visited.
The hospitality design firm of ForrestPerkins in Dallas was hired to serve as consultants on the design and architecture of the project. Deborah Lloyd Forrest and Stephen Perkins worked closely with hotel consultants and contractors to produce the look that would become the signature of the hotel.
"We told them what we liked, and they would do site visits and research at other hotels for us," Brackeen said. "We decided on a color scheme and went from there."
The color scheme is dominated by the wine family. They call it the Alluvian merlot. In the lobby and lobby-lounge, fabrics are the deep burgundy, claret and bordeaux of fine red wines with an accent of fresh-cut lime.
Fabrics are sensuous to the touch and vary subtly in shade and texture from one piece to the next.
Forrest said the furnishings combine rich mahogany and saturated jewel tones. As a counterpoint, the architectural elements are neutral tones of greige, ivory and cream, combined with rare marble in gray tones and burgundy laced with emerald green in the public areas.
"The origin of the colors was evolutionary, developing from a desire to create a unique combination of rich colors, patterns and textures," Forrest said.
"Of course, while looking for elegance, we also took into consideration issues of practicality, durability and stain resistance," Brackeen said.
"We wanted to get a layout and design that guests prefer," Brackeen said. "Of course, the artwork played a critical, major role in setting the tone to reflect the flavor of Mississippi and our local artists."
Forrest also added that throughout the hotel, images of water, stones, grass, trees and sky provide a subtle unifying idea for the interior.
ForrestPerkins designed the carpets and rugs specifically for The Alluvian, and they derive from geometric patterns with a twist: a wavy gold-tone pattern interrupted by stripes of bold color for the guest corridor carpet, squares of soft neutral colors of greige, gray and rose divided by lines of shaded wine colors in the lobby-lounge and circulation areas, and bold concentric squares of gray and burgundy punctuated with circles in lighter shades of the same colors for the meeting room. The guest lounge on the fourth floor has bamboo flooring with brighter shades of red and lime green.
As the hotel plans came to fruition, the entire historical aspect of the old Hotel Irving was abandoned because it did not fit into what was envisioned to be the finished product.
"There were originally 100 rooms in the Irving, and now there are 45 rooms and five suites," Brackeen said. "The streetside windows are the same. They were incorporated into the new design."
Rooms were much smaller in the days of the Hotel Irving, and bathrooms were not an original part of each room in the old hotel. The rooms were gutted, walls were torn down and the creation of the rooms began again with a larger space in mind.
The Alluvian is described as a boutique hotel, which defines it as an individually owned entity.
"It's not a cookie-cutter hotel," Brackeen said. "It has its own identity. With chain hotels, you get the same bed, the same everything. I think the traveler is now bored with that. They don't want the same thing. The savvy business traveler wants an 'experience.' And they will get that when they stay here."
