I’ve always considered the coolest hotels in Austin to be the ones in South Congress. Those are cool in the sense of being at the hippest party in the city. Commodore Perry Estate is cool in the sense of having a fine cocktail on a purple, deco-patterned chair under a mounted zebra head, overhearing an electric conversation about the design of the room and the historic pedigree of the patio. Another great spot for a cocktail, that time-worn, intricately patterned patio flows out to the green grounds of a sun-drenched, Loire-valley-feeling estate under the unabiding Texas sun. The pool is tucked neatly away from the rows of groomed hedges, architecturally-prestigious fountains strewn between.
If you’re not familiar with Austin: don’t get used to this. Austin’s top hotel—one of just three in Texas my colleagues and I awarded a Two-Key rating—feels less like Austin than Shangri-La. This is not the famed South Congress, but the leafy and suburban Hyde Park. The Central Austin neighborhood home to the Commodore is just a Lime scooter ride away from the city center. But within the gates of the estate, it feels a world apart.
I stayed in a cool, luxurious room in the new building, my four-poster bed the elegant centerpiece of an elegantly-appointed king room. Staff were friendly and attentive, and I returned once to my room to find apples from the hotel's associated orchard. But the magic of the estate is the eponymous Commodore’s mansion. Locals enjoy it for a long weekend or special occasions. Lucky guests mingle with the charmed day visitors of the estate’s members’ club. Meals are served in any room of the mansion, where the eclectic furnishing of one of America’s best working designers, Ken Fulk, is grounded and complimented by the lusciously restored detailing originally commissioned in the 1920s by a Texan aristocrat (Mr. Perry himself) who obviously had something to prove.
On my weekday visit, I indulged in a late afternoon patio meal of fried chicken, hushpuppies, and a signature cocktail, while the power lunches of Austin’s business class proliferated around me. At night, I let the concierge reserve me a table at Lutie’s, the estate’s MICHELIN-selected restaurant, and enjoyed course after course of exquisite, Texas-inspired cooking, indulging in their signature, housemade bread alongside a shocking portion of camembert.
The more bashful traveler might feel out of place, like they’ve teleported quite accidentally to the genteel, aristocratic American South of a century past and forgotten their parasol. Then they’ll notice an art object—say, a giant, novelty rotary telephone on a side table—and remember that the hotel doesn't take itself too seriously. This is a warm place for a special stay: for our money, the very best in Austin.
Top Image: A statue original to the estate, the hotel owner tracked down the lost piece and returned it to Commodore Perry.
