Hotel Ella

Like a classic seafaring vessel, Hotel Ella is named after a woman. The muse is Ella Wooten, the original lady of the house, who lived here from 1900 to 1944. Celebrated for her personal style, her green thumb and her good taste in interior decoration, she was the wife of the co-founder of the University of Texas — and she spared no expense in transforming the once-ordinary estate, a short stroll away from campus, into an opulent Greek Revival–style structure in 1910. More than a century later, her passion project reopened as a boutique hotel.

From the outside, Hotel Ella looks much the same as it did in days gone by: it’s a two-story stone mansion with wraparound porches supported by grand columns. Inside, things have changed. The parlors and boudoirs have been reshaped into 37 guest rooms and ten suites. They’re fairly standard in shape and size; the splendor here is in the craftsmanship. The materials are heavy and luxurious, befitting the era that inspired the place: granite-topped desks, combed cotton towels, bath products by the Vintage Round Top. There’s a minibar stocked with locally produced gourmet products — a charming and hospitable touch of which Ella herself would no doubt approve — and a 47-inch LED television, an item that she never would have heard of. Suites have custom-made furniture and small private patios; the top-of-the-line Mansion Petite Suite occupies part of one of the mansion’s wraparound porches. You’ll be hard-pressed to find a more pleasingly old-fashioned place to kick back with a mint julep or a glass of iced tea.

If you’re not staying in the hotel’s best suite, there’s always Goodall’s Kitchen, the onsite American bistro, also offering al fresco seating on the building’s original porches. If you’re feeling lazy, as one tends to be in Texas on a summery evening, they’ll also deliver directly to your room. You won’t want to miss happy hour or a nightcap at the Parlor Bar, however, where cocktails are inspired by “Dr. Wooten’s prescriptions and remedies” — like Goodall’s Blunderbuss, a heady mix of gin, rosemary, lemon and prosecco. We’ll take two, and try to remember to call you in the morning.