The Ashbrook Hotel Combines Pops of Color and a Bourbon Pedigree in Frankfort, Kentucky

The stately home at 300 Washington Street in the heart of Frankfort, Kentucky’s quaint downtown has long been known to locals. Nicknamed “Queen of the Corner,” the original, two-story Federal was built by a physician in 1815, and soon after it expanded to include significant Greek Revival elements. By the 1870s it served as the residence of E.H. Taylor Jr., founder of Old Taylor Distillery and O.F.C. Distillery, forerunner of the modern bourbon behemoth Buffalo Trace. Through subsequent owners, the edifice hosted President Woodrow Wilson, was the HQ of a preservation group, and earned inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places.

Now, for the first time in this distinguished timeline, it has been thoughtfully transformed into an inn. The brand new Ashbrook Hotel offers fourteen rooms, a restaurant, and a bar swathed in a multifaceted, top-to-bottom redesign directed by Natalie Officer of Louisville’s Natalie O Design. If guests can’t quite nail down the eclectic decor’s influences, that’s entirely intentional, though Officer acknowledges that her vision is “peppered with new takes on Arts and Crafts, Deco, and even midcentury pieces from all genres of design.” And with that enticing teaser, let’s step inside and have a look around.

Touched up with harmonizing paint hues, the wide brick exterior retains the balanced symmetry of the neoclassical architecture that epitomized American residential style in the nineteenth century. The rectangular windows near the roofline peek out from a collection of third-floor rooms.

The entryway begins the dance between nostalgia and whimsy, placing pops of primary color atop the original inlaid cherry floor. Other pre-revamp features include a distinctively curled banister newel and dramatically embossed wall cladding that starts at the front door and angles upward with the stairs. Though the material looks and feels like tooled leather, it’s a composite of dried linseed oil and sawdust akin to English-made Lincrusta wallpaper.

Just off the entry, what could be a stuffy library is made into a lively lounge area with a vintage couch recovered in a prism pattern from British designer Paul Smith, plus funky velvet swivel chairs by Ellison Studios. Eagle-eyed bourbon fans will no doubt appreciate that the lower portion of tall, twin bookcases is populated by twenty-seven (yes, we counted) Colonel E.H. Taylor, Jr. Small Batch canisters, a decorative homage to the renowned distiller who once resided here. (We also checked to see if the canisters still contain bottles. They do not.)

Tucked behind an unassuming door in the library hides a bourbon bar like no other in Frankfort. A walnut front handcrafted by woodworker Drew Straton is sandwiched between a foot rail and bar top of mint marble and surrounded by penny copper stools. If you need an icebreaker topic, look to the coiled pottery lamp, custom made by St. Louis ceramic artist Daniel Shapiro.

Chef Bob Atkins knows how to plate fried deviled eggs, smoked rainbow trout cakes, and other Southern-leaning fare with artful flair, but in the Ashbrook dining space, his menu shares the spotlight with Kelly Zellers’s oversized wall murals depicting colorful carrots, radishes, and pea pods. “I spent about ten years working as a floral designer,” Zellers says of her inspiration, “letting the colors, textures, and lines influence my work.”

The Ashbrook’s fourteen unique rooms continue the overall design themes in palates of blush, sage, and sunset. Original fireplaces are framed by antique mantels and decorative tiles that resonate with the more mod quirkiness of mushroom-shaped checkerboard lamps from Streicher Goods, which glow upon nightstands from Louisville furniture maker David Searfoss.