Louisville, Kentucky
21c Museum Hotel Louisville
Creative Hideaway
What it is
A 91 room hotel tucked inside 19th-century warehouses, with its own 9,000-square-foot art museum and a locally beloved restaurant.
What it isn't
Just about art. They also ballyhoo the art of *living*; note the spa with aromatherapy lavender and bergamot massages and deep tissue massages alike.
What we think
Proof 21C’s Louisville outpost puts art on a pedestal is right there on the exterior of the property itself, where a towering statue of David (based on Michelangelo’s circa 1504 original) lords over Main Street. Guest rooms are just as artful, thanks to their soaring ceilings, occasional exposed brick walls (these were warehouses, after all) and original art pieces. You can opt to sleep in an actual art installation by booking the 500-square-foot “Asleep in a Cyclone” room, where New York artists Justine Lowe and Jona Freeman created a glowing Rainbow-Bright geodesic domed ceiling over the bed and sheathed the walls in salvaged barn wood. We also love the comparatively “plain” gusset rooms—each one outfitted with Malin + Goetz toiletries, original art and streamlined bathrooms lined in subway tile.
You're here because
You’ve got a thing for whiskey lately, and their restaurant, Proof on Main, has over 120 Kentucky bourbons on the menu, plus dishes like a bison burger with smoked bacon and onion jam.
The Moment
The only thing more delightful than perusing the art museum here—wandering past sculptures like Wim Botha’s fluorescent lit ‘Still Life with Water,’ which looks like a raven in flight—is knowing that as soon as you’re done you can take time to reflect on each piece from the comfort of your sumptuous bed, just upstairs.
Restaurants & Bars
Proof On Main- Regional cuisine with local flavors
Proof Bar- Signature cocktails and an award-winning wine list
Location
Downtown Louisville, two blocks from the banks of the Ohio River and just one from the Louisville Slugger Museum & Factory, where you can tour the actual production line to see wood getting whirred into actual bats.