Issue link: http://papercitymagazine.uberflip.com/i/975393
52 H ouston's oldest operating hotel, The Lancaster, is coming back. Last July, the Shinn family of Magnolia Lodging acquired the historic theater-district property and closed it for a 12-month total remake. They have now announced that more than 100 artists with Texas connections will be on view throughout the 12-story property — in the lobby, the 60-seat restaurant rebranded Grille Nineteen 26, Speedy Boy Coffee Shop, and all 93 rooms. "We're really making it an art hotel," says Jay Shinn, an internationally acclaimed artist and co-owner of Magnolia Lodging along with two siblings and a nephew. The visual lineup to date: "Gael Stack, Trenton Doyle Hancock, Tommy Fitzpatrick, Carl Palazzolo, and Allison V. Smith. MANUAL's photographs and a five-by-eight-foot Mark Flood canvas in the lobby, Otis Jones over the front desk, and Aaron Parazette in the mezzanine." The rooms each feature one central artist. Shinn's nephew Matthew Newton, Magnolia Lodging president, will oversee the THE LANCASTER AS WHITE CUBE HOUSTON'S FIRST ART HOTEL WANDERINGS Jacques bar at The Lowell Clockwise from top left: Mark Flood's Outcrop, 2004; the new Lancaster, set to unveil late summer 2018; Tommy Fitzpatrick's Campanile, 2017; artist, curator, and Magnolia Lodging CEO Jay Shinn; Auditorium Hotel on opening day, November 21, 1926. reborn Lancaster, with Fernando Huerta returning as executive chef. The Lancaster, originally known as the Auditorium Hotel, was designed in 1926 in the Regency style by Joseph Finger, architect of City Hall, Clarke & Courts Building (Tribeca Lofts), and Houston Air Terminal (now a museum). Shinn's family is the second owner, succeeding the DeGeorge family, who were at the helm for nearly a century. Dallas designer David Cadwallader of Cadwallader Design leads the charge on the interiors; his art-centric clients include some of Dallas' very top collectors. For more on The Lancaster, visit papercitymag.com, thelancaster.com. Catherine D. Anspon COURTESY MICHAELENE "MIKI" LUSK NORTON NICK DEAN, AIA JAMES BLAND