Brooklyn design firm Studio Tack has revived an art-deco landmark in San Francisco's emerging Tenderloin district, creating the art-forward Tilden Hotel.
Studio Tack co-founders Stephen Yang and Brian Smith looked to minimalism and a modernist palette during the wall-to-wall revamp of the historic building.

Originally built in 1928 as the Linden Hotel, the property was later renamed Hotel Mark Twain during the Great Depression. The building gained infamy as the location of legendary blues singer Billie Holiday's arrest for opium possession.
In 2017, the building experienced a third incarnation into today's Tilden Hotel, named after sculptor Douglas Tilden, who is best known for creating the Ball Player in Golden State Park.

The 118-room hotel now showcases clean lines mingled with organic textures, a combination that evokes the Japanese wabi-sabi philosophy of celebrating imperfection. "Deeply rooted in Japan, wabi-sabi design conveys a certain feeling, look or perspective," said a statement from the hotel. "It focuses on the minimal, celebrates humble materials, and is a natural intersection of the essential, ageing and beautiful."

Guest rooms range from 320 to 450 square feet (30 to 42 square metres), all hinting to the building's art-deco heritage with a monochromatic theme that employs high-gloss black and chrome accents. White plantation-shuttered windows lend a sense of urban zen in the face of the nearby bustle of Union Square.

In the lobby, t...