21c Museum Hotel

Photos by Catherine Tighe

2006
Deborah Berke Partners
Louisville, KY

9,000 GSF

Museums & Galleries
Residential & Hospitality

Located at the center of Louisville’s historic downtown, the 21c Museum Hotel combines a 9,000 sf contemporary art museum with a 91-room boutique hotel, including an 8,000 sf restaurant, Proof on Main.

Created by joining five adjacent historical structures, the hotel centers around an impressive atrium gallery cut through the center of the buildings – providing natural light for interior facing guest rooms and opportunities to display large-scale contemporary art.
Gallery spaces are lighted with museum-grade art lighting systems, incorporating sophisticated dimming control while skylights above the atrium gallery add filtered natural light by day. The atrium also provides a unique view for interior guest rooms in the evening, as colored fluorescent fixtures outline the openings in the existing brick party walls that once separated the historic structures.

Artwork is similarly the focus in the Restaurant and Bar, Proof on Main, where fabric-covered color-changing LED fixtures hang from the ceiling, creating a kinetic backdrop for dining. Completed in April 2006 as the first of the award-winning 21 Museum Hotels, 21c Louisville has become an exciting new addition to downtown Louisville’s cultural and historical rebirth.