For a city often asking questions of its own cultural identity, The Watermark in downtown Baton Rouge offers a new way to contemplate the answers, 225 writes in a feature in its new issue.
The boutique hotel, the latest architectural achievement in downtown, celebrates the Capital City’s past, present and future.
Constructed in a Greek Revival style in 1925, the 12-story building was the city’s first skyscraper and home to Louisiana National Bank. By 1970, it had been sold and converted into the State Office Building for the Louisiana Board of Regents and other higher education departments.
Developer Mike Wampold purchased the building in 2013 for $10.25 million. Wampold struck a management deal with Marriott in 2014 and came up with the name “Watermark” for the new 144-room development, which opened in October.
Architecture giant Gensler transformed the 90-year-old structure. Keeping with the hyper-local theme, two LSU graduates from Gensler’s Houston office—principal Greg Lacour and interior designer Douglas Detiveaux—led the design. Baton Rouge gallery owner and curator Ann Connelly consulted on the fine-art elements and creative collaborations for the revitalized space.
“I wanted this design to be meaningful, to make an emotional connection,” says Detiveaux, a Houma native. “This seemed like a great opportunity to celebrate the genuine and true story of Baton Rouge.”
At the Watermark, that story spans generations, back to the 1920s and the many styles that followed, from Greek Revival to art deco to midcentury modern. Each of these elements had to be tied together with a contemporary redesign that plays out like a nonlinear trip through the city’s past.
“Storytelling is so important to meaningful and lasting design,” Lacour tells 225. “Too often there’s just no story, and buildings that have only aesthetic value simply don’t mean as much to people. It’s the story that generates this subconscious connection to a place.”
