Daxton Hotel

The upscale Detroit suburb of Birmingham is perhaps not the first place you’d look to find a place like the Daxton Hotel, a dramatic and art-filled luxury boutique hotel of the type that, not all that long ago, would have struggled to find an audience outside of New York or Los Angeles. The look is bold in black marble and dark wood, setting an authentically elegant tone. And what pulls it back from excessive seriousness is its art collection, which includes some playful and colorful paintings and sculptures prominently displayed in the lobby and other public spaces.

In contrast, the rooms let a bit of light in, and display echoes of multiple eras of architectural history, from Victorian ornament to Art Deco and Modernist gestures and beyond. They’re provided with a generous amount of lounge space, and the bathrooms are particularly stylish in white tile and richly figured black stone.

The hotel’s restaurant, Madam, is frankly more attractive than it needs to be, featuring large-scale artworks, dramatic lighting, and an unusual triangle-chamber ceiling detail. A geodesic dome envelops the bar, and at the table you’ll find a menu drawing its culinary inspiration from a diverse array of global cuisines.