New Restoration Hardware store format combines retail with hospitality
Restoration Hardware’s (RH) new store in Chicago features its signature blend of upscale home furnishings amid an opulent backdrop but adds a new twist: dining.
The company’s new RH Gallery, located in the 101-year-old Three Arts Club building on the city’s Gold Coast, marks the brand’s initial foray into hospitality with a restaurant by famed Chicago restaurateur Brendan Sodikoff.
The space, which is on the first floor, includes three different options: a restaurant, complete with a courtyard and fountain; a wine tasting room; and a café and expresso bar.
In addition, the Chicago location features the first in-store presentation of RH’s newest brands: RH Modern and RH Teen. Other features include RH Baby & Child, a rug showroom, a design atelier with a library of fabrics, leathers and furniture finishes.
Reclaimed, restored and reimagined, RH Chicago spans nearly 70,000 total sq. ft. across six floors, and includes a glass-and-steel-enclosed courtyard, a rooftop park and conservatory and a performance stage.
“It was clear from the moment we saw the Three Arts Club that this was a rare opportunity to build a ‘field of dreams’ – a lasting gift to the city of Chicago – where we could reimagine the retail experience by blurring the lines between residential and retail, indoors and outdoors, home and hospitality,” says RH chairman & CEO Gary Friedman. “With great admiration for the building’s history and architecture, we are reestablishing this landmark’s relevance by harmoniously incorporating aspirational interior and exterior installations with an integrated hospitality concept unlike anything that exists in retail.”
RH Chicago marks Friedman’s continued collaboration with design architect James Gillam of the Backen, Gillam & Kroeger architectural firm.
The landmark Three Arts was designed in 1914 by distinguished architectural firm Holabird & Roche as a residence for young women studying the art arts. The entire structure has been restored with great respect for its original vision in collaboration with the Commission on Chicago Landmarks.
The main level features the historic courtyard, which, for the first time in the building’s history, is functional year round with the addition of a new pyramidal glass and steel structure, creating a conservatory inside the building that soars to 20 feet at its apex.
The second level is home to the RH Design Atelier – a dedicated 3,000-sq.-ft. studio anchored by a custom 30-ft. table for interior designers, architects and customers to conceptualize their projects. Also featured on the second level is rug showroom.
The third level, home to the RH Baby & Child gallery, also marks the first in-store presentation of the RH Teen brand.
The fourth level features the first in-store presentation of RH Modern. The 11,000-sq.-ft. space spotlights a fully integrated assortment of modern furnishings, lighting and décor.
An additional RH Design Atelier is featured on the rooftop park level, this one dedicated to outdoor living. Open-air pavilions with billowing shade canopies, glimmering chandeliers, giant pyramidal topiaries, boxwood hedges, trickling fountains and panoramic views of Chicago will showcase intimate vignettes of RH Outdoor furnishings.