Colorful Hotel in Historical Downtown Dallas Location
In the early 1920s, Conrad Hilton set the blueprints for a hotel in downtown Dallas that would be built on the highest plot of land he could find. The building would be grand, designed in the style of Louis Sullivan’s elegant skyscrapers, and feature two imposing towers joined by an arching 10th-floor bridge. It would also become the first hotel to bear his name. The distinctive design of the high-rise helped to earn it a spot on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985. Though the building's exterior looks much the same as it did in 1925, it is now the Hotel Indigo Dallas Downtown, and the interior has undergone a radical transformation brought on by insightful designers.
Revamped guest rooms glow with a colorful spectrum of bold yellow paints, texturized wall murals, and indigo bedspreads, replacing the gray- and cream-colored rooms of the 1920s. King suites feature gleaming hardwood floors, and so does the spacious lobby, where guests can relax in comfy chairs or visualize how many marshmallows it would take to fill the vaulted ceilings.
The lobby’s bar area glimmers like a giant amethyst, emitting deep, rich shades of indigo at every turn. Guests can enjoy an aperitif here before strolling next door to Phi Restaurant, a bistro-style eatery that features a seasonally rotating menu of breakfast and dinner fare amid larger-than-life wall murals, such as a close-up of a sunflower.
Dallas: Bustling Business District and Massive Art Museum
The Hotel Indigo Dallas Downtown sits on the historical Main Street, the spine of downtown Dallas that connects to many of the city’s recently rejuvenated urban districts. When looking toward the east from the hotel, one can see the popular Main Street Garden, a block-long public park encircled by skyscrapers. Here, locals come to picnic on the expansive lawn or take in movies under the moonlight in the summer and fall.
Half a mile away resides the Dallas Museum of Art, which has a curated collection of more than 24,000 works of art spanning 5,000 years of human culture. Current exhibits include Mark Manders: Parallel Occurrences/Documented Assignments, a series of self-portraits in sculpture by the acclaimed Dutch artist, as well as a showcase of the multimedia work of Los Angeles–based artist Mark Bradford, who utilizes the Dallas Museum of Art’s vast open space with a large installation. Live jazz performances take place each Thursday from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the museum, which keeps its doors open until midnight on the third Friday of every month to prolong staring contests with busts of Roman emperors.