The Siren Hotel: A Detroit Landmark with a Musical Soul, Saved from Abandonment

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Motor City’s iconic Wurlitzer Building—originally designed by native Detroit architect Robert Finn in 1926—now houses The Siren Hotel, with interiors reimagined and rebuilt by design development firm ASH NYC. Once the headquarters for the Rudolph Wurlitzer Company, importers of woodwind and brass instruments from Europe, the building fell into a period of abandonment (and danger: bricks were falling off of the façade) before its rebirth as the city’s trendiest hotel, with 106 guest rooms, six food and drink spaces, and two retail shops.

To transform the decrepit building, ASH NYC created completely new walls and electrical systems within its narrow footprint; fitting 106 rooms into the floor plan was like solving a puzzle, says partner and chief creative officer Will Cooper. “From there, the building’s history led us to the fantasies that we created within the various spaces throughout the hotel, from the rooms to the historic lobby,” Cooper says.

In the new interiors, soft pinks meet deep crimson, navy, and olive to marry new world and old world as the landmark Wurlitzer Building begins its newest life as The Siren Hotel. Check it out.

Photography via The Siren Hotel.

“our inspiration was drawn from grand hotels of the past in both america and 9 — Above: “Our inspiration was drawn from grand hotels of the past in both America and Europe,” says Cooper. “The palette was specifically derived from the colors in the historic plaster ceiling that is now preserved in place in the lobby.” (Curbed Detroit has a glimpse of the “before,” including the original patterned ceilings.)

“I always say that I like having the parameters of an existing footprint to work within, because it gives us lines to color within and forces creative uses of space,” Cooper says. He adds: “It channels all of the energy that would be spent on façade studies into creating dramatic and interesting interiors.”