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Ace Hotel's charismatic founder Alex Calderwood, who died this week, may not have been well known outside the world of design, but his fresh, unconventional approach to hospitality was groundbreaking, setting a new benchmark for boutique hotels
Vintage furniture, street art, bold typography, old crates of vinyl...these are the trappings we've come to expect from hip bars and hotels the world over. But back in the late 1990s the idea of incorporating such design features into a hotel was cutting edge.
When Alex Calderwood, who died this week aged 47, founded the first Ace Hotel in Seattle in 1999, it immediately set a new benchmark for hospitality. Working with designer Eric Hentz, Calderwood converted a former 28-room halfway house for maritime workers into a desirable destination for creatives dotted with reclaimed furniture and contemporary art. But it wasn't just the design that was pioneering, the hotel also broke convention by offering budget rooms with communal bathrooms under the same roof as large luxury suites.
For Tamara Heber-Percy, co-founder of Mr & Mrs Smith, the review website which helped fuel the interest in boutique hotels, Ace Hotels offered something completely original. "Calderwood introduced real innovation into the hotel world and a lot of hoteliers are still playing catch-up," she says.
Even now, 14 years later, Ace is seen as the definitive hip hotel chain, inspiring both copycat designs and affectionate mockery for its association with the hipster lifestyle. Actor and comedian Fred Armisen, a friend of Calderwood's, created a comedy sketch in TV show Portlandia that famously poked fun at the hotel's laid-back, blasé style, in which dissinterested staff hand out turntables and typewriters to exasperated guests.
Calderwood, who created the hotel chain with friends Wade Weigel and Doug Herrick, clearly drew inspiration from his varied life experience. Before diving into the hotel industry, he was a prolific member of the Seattle party scene. He never went to college, but made a name for himself putting on club nights in warehouses before going on to launch a vintage clothing business. His first big success lay with Rudy's barbershop, which he launched in the early 90s. The fashionable stores were based on the timeless barbershop design – with tiled floors and traditional chairs – and by the late 1990s the brand had grown to boast over a dozen branches. Calderwood needed a new challenge; he decided to take on hotels.
In 2007 Ace opened a second hotel in Portland, before going on to open branches in Oregon, New York, Palm Springs, and California. Just six weeks ago, Ace opened a hotel in the East London area of Shoreditch, and new branches in Panama City and Los Angeles are also underway.
Each new hotel morphed to fit the location it was based in, collaborating with local businesses to create a home from home feel. The Shoreditch hotel was designed by London based Universal Design Studio, features hire bicycles that were custom made by local company Tokyobike and also has a branch of contemporary east London florist That Flower Shop in the building.
For Herbert Ypma, creator of the Hip Hotels series of travel books, Ace radically changed the thinking within the industry. "Ace caused the deconstruction of convention," he says. "What's wrong with a bathroom being shared? Does a lobby have to be a lobby? Do we even need a lobby? These are the kinds of questions they asked."
"It was very democratic," says Ypma. "I think Calderwood identified something very interesting about travel – if you always travel first class you'll never meet anyone interesting – you're just cocooned. Some of the saddest hotels are very luxurious but everyone is sitting as far away as possible from each other. These hotels specialise in keeping everyone at a social distance. This is what gave Ace its edge – they let people mix together. "
Heber-Percy of Mr and Mrs Smith adds, "He had a real vision of hotels as places you want to hang out in, not just head straight to your bedroom. I can't think of another hotel group with such a strong brand and all-pervading identity – everything from the cocktails to the cleaning signs is unmistakeably Ace."