Hotel News

Fancy-Western sister hotel to Austin darling debuts in Fort Worth

Dry-aged beef on the menu at Bowie House in Fort Worth.

Photo courtesy of Bowie House

Now that Fort Worth is one of the top 50 travel destinations in 2024, according to Travel + Leisure, it might be time to get a few hotels on Austinites' radars. Even if staying is out of the budget (can't beat a cheap motel if you're not spending much time in the room), a luxury hotel can be a great anchor during your visit.

A long-awaited hotel has debuted in Fort Worth: Bowie House, part of the Auberge Resorts Collection portfolio, is now open at 3700 Camp Bowie Blvd., with a chophouse-style restaurant and hundreds of pieces of art.

The property is owned by Jo Ellard, who breeds horses and cattle, and is managed by Auberge Resorts Collection, which is part of the Friedkin Group, a privately held consortium of automotive, hospitality, entertainment, sports and adventure companies.

Bowie House, Auberge Resorts Collection is the second property in Texas, joining Commodore Perry Estate, Auberge Resorts Collection in Austin. There's also one planned for Dallas.

Restaurant
The signature restaurant is Bricks and Horses — argh, is that really the name? — a Texas-style contemporary chophouse that will specialize in dry-aged local beef. Executive Chef is Antonio Votta, a Las Vegas native who says the menu will offer an elevated spin on cult Americana classics such as Wild Boar Ribs, Lobster Thermidor, and Big Eye Tuna Crudo with Blood Orange Citronette.

There is also:

The Garden, an outdoor space
The Billet Room, a "convivial social club"
The Mulberry Room, an intimate library bar
The Bar, a bar with cocktails, whiskeys, all-day bites, a double-sided fireplace, and a meticulously restored saloon bar

In spring 2024, there are also plans to open Whinny's — argh, is that seriously the name? — a poolside restaurant serving a Middle Eastern-inspired, Texas BBQ menu of light bites, salads, ice cream sandwiches, and frozen drinks.

Photo courtesy of Bowie House

Rooms
Bowie House has 88 studios, 12 lofts, and 6 suites, several with open-air balconies, boasting a Western-themed decor including hat racks, boot benches, customizable boot shines, white oak floors, woven rugs, textured strié wall covering, linear headboards upholstered in woven leather with stitched belt straps, and curved bar cabinets with sliding tambour doors revealing lacquered aubergine interiors. The signature accommodation is the three-room Goodnight Suite, which comes with its own dining room for eight, and bird’s eye views of the Cultural District.

Photo courtesy of Bowie House

Art
Architectural and interiors firm BOKA Powell has combined modern and Western themes, with brick, cast stone, and glass across more than 10,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor space, and more than 400 pieces of art by artists such as Ashley Collins, Max Zorn, Don Drumm David Yarrow, and photographer Constance Jaeggi.

"People ask me all the time what the style of Bowie House is, but like the art collection, it’s not any one style, it’s an expression of different elements coming together to create something truly unique," says Jo Ellard. "Sophisticated and comfortable, reflecting its distinctly Texan setting in an entirely original way, Bowie House welcomes everyone who steps inside not as a hotel, but as a wonderful, one-of-a-kind Western home - that was the goal."

Spa
An in-house spa called Ash — argh, is that really the name? these people need branding help — contains five treatment rooms, sauna and steam room, fitness center, nail studio, boutique, and relaxation lounge, with private access to the second floor terrace. Treatments include water dancing, synergistic skin treatments, infrared therapy, non-sleep deep rest massage, an apothecary, and visiting wellness specialists and fitness instructors such as Manjit Devgun, a mindfulness instructor, who'll be on-site December 1-5.

Events
The Nick Fouquet Shop, the French-American designer, will be on-site through mid-February with a custom hat collection inspired by Bowie House, while also offering custom fittings and finishes.

December 12: Conversations in the Library is a monthly speaker series kicking off on December 12 with Steve Wrubel sharing the stories behind Ride & Ridden’s limited edition wine label designs as you taste.
December 5: Country music writer Heather Morgan will divulge the meaning behind her lyrics in The Mulberry Room’s first Songwriter Sessions.
December 7: The Billet Room will welcome Frankie Leonie and Jake Palescic, in the first of regular Thursday Bowie House Records performances.

Seven venues for rental include the terrace of Laney’s Room, the Silverton Room ballroom, the lofty Arcade, or The Billet Room.

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29th Street Ballroom/Facebook

Changes are coming at the 29th Street Ballroom, but the goal is to preserve what already makes it special.

The evolution continues at the 29th Street Ballroom, the music venue formerly attached to Spider House Café. It's no secret, Resound Presents CEO and co-founder Graham Williams says, that he and a large team of other industry pros are taking over the space; but now they're ready to talk about what comes next for the venue and adjoining bar.

Although Spider House Café closed in 2020, the Ballroom stayed open, and has continued serving University of Texas students and anyone else who wants to see a show outside of the ordinary: punk shows, burlesque revues, fundraisers, and more. It'll stay open through most of the renovations, scheduled through January of 2025, and is expected to hold a grand opening in March.

Now Resound — one of Austin's top live music organizers, which was itself born from the ashes of another Austin institution — is lending two of its co-founders to managing the space going forward: Williams and Ian Orth. They're joining seven other team members from venues around town, many of them overlapping: Amy Mullins, Brian Tweedy, Jason McNeely, John Yaklin, and Shannon LeBoeuf of Hotel Vegas, Chess Club, Kinda Tropical, Tweedy’s, and Yellow Jacket Social Club, in varying capacities; and Brian Buscemi and Mike Sanchez of the Little Darlin’.

Williams emphasizes that although things will be changing at the Ballroom, the goal isn't to change anything people already love.

"Over the next few months as we kind of ease into the spring, we're using this downtime to revitalize things, decorate, revamp some of the stuff in the venue and the bar, and just kind of get things moving in the right direction," Williams says, "taking what's already popular about the venue and just adding to it, really."

Bar updates
The biggest shift will be turning the bar from an accessory to live shows into its own entity that's open even when there's nothing else going on. Amy Mullins, best known as a co-owner of Yellow Jacket Social Club, is overseeing that transition. She's never operated a venue that is primarily focused on music, and has been enjoying learning more about how to do it; she even worked the door recently when a staff member called out sick.

Mullins echoes Williams in assuring that the change is more about logistics than tone. It'll still feel like Old Austin, but she does express a hope to run more than the "typical venue bar," handing out simple drinks as quickly as possible. She's working on a new menu that includes wine, beer, craft cocktails, and non-alcoholic options like tea, kombucha, or mocktails. Regardless of what's on the schedule on any given night, Mullins says the menu will stay the same.

"There's no drink too complicated for us to make, however busy we are," she says.

Food options
Another goal for the team will be making sure the space works when there's not someone onstage to crowd around. They'll expand the front and side patios and create a food truck food court that features the same trucks that are there now, plus one newcomer. All in all, that includes Yalla Burger & Wings, Gyro Center, Li’l Nonna’s Vegan Pizzeria, Guppy’s Indian Fried Chicken, Waylon J’s BBQ, and Ay Chihuahua Tacos.

The expanded patio will connect to Tweedy's Bar next door, which also has its own food trucks. The idea is to create a space to hang out after shows that feels fit for the purpose. It's possible to stick around after events now, but the layout does create a vague feeling of loitering.

Artist and fan-friendly tweaks
On the entertainment side, Williams says some of the renovations include putting in a new sound system, redoing the green room, updating the facade, and repainting signs. Since the winter is a slower time for live music, they'll be taking advantage of the extra time to work on things before packing the calendar with more events than before. Resound will handle most of the bookings in live music, comedy, and DJ sets, welcoming both national and local talent.

Whatever the details end up being, this team has proved to Austinites that they know how to run venues worth visiting. And since they're all friends and business partners on multiple levels, it sounds like having this many cooks in the kitchen just isn't an issue.

"Some of us have been roommates and known each other since we were young," says Williams. "It's a good mix of people who are all very like minded, so a lot is being brought to the table per decision. So yeah, it's it's really exciting. Sometimes that's not the case. .... But with this project, it's a lot of really great, creative people that are good at what they do [and] they trust each other."

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