First Look: RH opens ‘gallery’ location in California
The latest high-end RH (formerly Restoration Hardware) location is now open in the Bay Area.
The luxe home furnishings retailer has opened a “gallery” in a multilevel contemporary structure in Palo Alto, Calif. The new RH Palo Alto, The Gallery at Stanford, features a parchment-cream Venetian plaster exterior with an expanse of glass-and-steel French doors that open onto garden courtyards and terraces surrounded by 100-year-old heritage olive trees.
On the main level, visitors will pass through a 25-foot threshold of retractable glass-and-steel doors as they continue into the central hall with soaring 13-foot ceilings and natural light emanating from a skylight three floors above.
Along the periphery, barrel-vaulted passageways lead to a classical arrangement of rooms integrating the brand’s assortment of furnishings, lighting and décor with antiques and artifacts from around the world.
A pair of cascading water walls of Italian limestone inspired by the fountain in New York City’s Paley Park flank the grand stair leading up from the first level, and an adjacent wine bar serves champagnes and wines, including limited-production offerings from Napa Valley’s small vintners, customers can consumer in the park or while exploring the rest of the gallery.
Highlights from the second and third floors include:
Second floor
The second floor features artistic lifestyle installations of products from internationally acclaimed designers – as well as the RH Interior Design Studio offering professional design services in an interactive atelier that includes a private presentation room, technology, design libraries showcasing an assortment of textiles, furniture and lighting finishes and a rug showroom presenting an exclusive collection.
Third floor
The third floor features a glass-encased rooftop restaurant, which is set in a year-round, skylit garden setting beneath an atrium with heritage olive trees, sparkling chandeliers and a cascading center fountain sculpted of solid Biancone limestone.
The restaurant seamlessly extends from the indoors to out to a landscaped rooftop park influenced by the classical gardens of Europe with a series of intimate RH Outdoor lounge spaces featuring heritage olive trees, shade canopies and sculptural evergreens.
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Photo courtesy of Business Wire -
Photo courtesy of Business Wire.
“RH Palo Alto reflects our commitment to creating architecturally inspiring and immersive spaces that blur the lines between residential and retail, indoors and outdoors, home and hospitality. Spaces that activate all our senses, and spaces that cannot be replicated online,” said RH chairman & CEO Gary Friedman. “We are thrilled to be part of the energy and invention that continues to define the Silicon Valley community, and we are proud to add this gallery to our hometown portfolio.”
2024 Expansion
RH reported disappointing fourth-quarter earnings and revenue, but still struck a positive note about the current year. It expects demand to pick up through 2024, forecasting sales growth of 8% to 10%.
The company continues to expand its design galleries (stores) with the opening of five new locations in 2024, including two in California besides Palo Alto (Newport Beach and Montecito). Other new locations include Raleigh, N.C., and Cleveland.
In November 2023, RH opened a design gallery in Indianapolis. All the outposts feature restaurants and wine bars, as well as design offices. In other 2024 plans, the company will unveil its first RH Interior Design Studio, in Palm Desert, Calif.
On the global front, RH recently opened a gallery in Brussels, Belgium, and has one scheduled to open in Madrid, Spain this summer. Looking further out, RH announced plans to open in Sydney, Australia, in fall 2026.
The Gallery in Double Bay will be a five-story development with a rooftop restaurant and wine bar. In other global developments, RH Paris has been delayed until spring 2025 due to construction restrictions relating to preparations for the Olympic Games this summer.
The company is also planning to move beyond the home furnishings market into the $1.7 trillion North American housing market with the launch of RH Residences, described as fully furnished luxury homes, condominiums and apartments with integrated services "that deliver taste and time value to discerning time-starved consumers."
RH is also increasing its focus on its luxury bath and kitchen brand Waterworks, which it acquired in 2016. It plans to open a 3,500-sq.-ft. Waterworks Showroom in its design gallery in Newport Beach, Calif. in the fourth quarter of 2024.