The iconic Garden Court Hotel in downtown Palo Alto, known for both welcoming dignitaries and opening its doors to local nonprofits and community organizations, is now the el Prado Hotel.
The name change, which hotel operator Ferrado revealed in February, is part of a renaming of the Spanish-style boutique hotel at 520 Cowper St., which has been in the works since 2015, General Manager Brayton Gosling said.
El Prado, which means “the meadow” in Spanish, will retain many of the Spanish-style interior courtyard design elements of the 62-room hotel while redesigning the interior to create “a combination of high-end yet casual.” Feel design, “said Gosling.
Ferrado worked with the San Francisco design firm Nicolehollis on the redesign, based on the existing Spanish design elements, he added.
According to a press release from the hotel, the hotel will have a new color palette with forest green, stone blue, a touch of terracotta orange, and a mix of neutral tones.
The biggest changes are made to the interior. The lobby, which was on the second floor of the Garden Court Hotel above the open-air shops, is now on the first floor. A two-story glass solarium with a tapas bar on the second floor will replace the old lobby.
Other changes include an expanded function room called “The Library” with a conference table, lounge area and rooms that are equipped with video conferencing functions. The hotel offers a total of 6,000 square meters of indoor and outdoor meeting and event space.
The rebranding marks the end of an era for the luxury boutique hotel, which received four stars Forbes travel guide and was consistently voted the best hotel in the annual Best Of Edition of the week. During its 35 years of operation, the hotel has hosted many notable personalities, from local tech CEOs to the New York Times and Washington Post writers and publishers to senior government officials – one of whom, according to Barbara Gross, needed a direct line to the White House, who worked as general manager in the hotel from 1999 to 2005.
“The hotel switchboard had to be redesigned to allow direct access to the White House,” said Gross. “And everything was done by the Secret Service.”
Gross played an important role in transforming the hotel into a community destination by providing space for nonprofits, schools, and other local institutions to hold their events at very low prices and subsidize the remaining costs. Stanford Health Care Community Partnerships, the Peninsula Stroke Association, TheatreWorks Silicon Valley and East Palo Alto Elementary Schools were among the organizations that hosted the hotel.
“We got to know so many non-profit groups and connected so many people with one another that the investment was extremely profitable,” said Gross.
Gosling said el Prado plans to carry on the Garden Court’s legacy of supporting community organizations.
“This property has such nostalgia and such a place in the community and in people’s hearts,” he said. “It would do us no service to get away from it.”
Gosling said the hotel is slated to open sometime in late summer.
