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The Stoneleigh has been a fixture of Dallas life for more than a century. Opened in 1923, the property was the tallest building west of the Mississippi at the time of its completion, and it remains the second-oldest hotel in the city. Now, after an extensive renovation led by London and Los Angeles-based interior design studio Fettle, the Autograph Collection hotel has reopened with a design that treats its layered history not as a constraint but as a blueprint.

The building’s story is inseparable from the name Dorothy Draper, the legendary American decorator who was hired by Colonel Stewart, a local businessman and hotelier, after he purchased the property in the 1930s. Draper left her mark in ways that are still visible today, most notably in the 400-year-old wood paneling she imported from London’s Charterhouse School, which lines the Music Room on the 11th floor. She also designed custom wallpaper for the corridors—and, unhappy with how it arrived, had it installed upside down in the 11th floor bedroom corridor.

Elegant hallway with red curtains, vintage chandeliers, and colorful armchairs.The Stoneleigh

A look down the 11th floor corridor.

Fettle co-founder Tom Parker describes the project less as a renovation than a restoration, an exercise in recovering what made the building exceptional in the first place. “The building has a very rich and elaborate history which heavily guided our design approach,” Parker tells T&C. “The building was a good example of the translation of the Beaux Arts period and how that manifested visually in the Southern states, where geometric and hard lines are seen in the decorative details.”

That Beaux-Arts vocabulary runs throughout the redesign. Custom carpets echo the period’s geometric pattern work. Printed details in the wainscoting and casing carry the same geometric motifs into the guest rooms. Nearly every piece of furniture, lighting, fabric, and wall-covering was designed bespoke for the project, with the studio drawing on storied design houses including House of Hackney, Schumacher, and Sogni di Cristallo.

Bathroom with decorative wallpaper, octagonal mirror, and rolled towels.The Stoneleigh

A look at the mix of patterns woven together in a junior suite bathroom.

“We would love guests to arrive and really be able to see how beautiful the building itself is from the get-go,” Parker says, “then during their stay begin to discover the sense of stories and nostalgia that are interwoven into the history of the spaces, whether this is through the more subtle moments within the signage, fabric patterns, and touchpoints or through the small collections of historic photos of the building in the 1920s and 1930s.”

Parker says Fettle’s approach to historic properties—as seen at the Georgian Hotel in Santa Monica, the Ritz-Carlton Nob Hill in San Francisco, and the Sundance Mountain Resort in Utah—is more like editing than overhauling. “All of these properties have loyal local guests who are always very keen that the fabric of the building isn’t destroyed during a renovation,” Parker says. In the case of the Stoneleigh, the Fettle team found the Dallas community was most drawn to the stories, the architecture, and the sense of gravitas of the building. “Prior renovations hadn’t highlighted any of these details so the building had begun to feel somewhat watered down over the years,” Parker says. “Our intent was then to keep all of the things that make the building magical and embellish this with more decorative elements and storytelling.”

Stylish bar interior with green walls, pink chairs, and chandelier.The Stoneleigh

Bar Leonessa pays homage to the property being founded in the Prohibition era.

Outdoor pool with pink loungers and red umbrellas, surrounded by buildings and a large tree.The Stoneleigh

The renovation also extended to the hotel’s pool, reimagined as a social destination with custom coral and green parasols.

One of the more significant structural changes involved relocating the bar. The previous bar felt disconnected from the lobby’s architecture, and Fettle repositioned it—now called Bar Leonessa—to sit beside the lobby, framed by dramatic floor-to-ceiling velvet curtains. An onyx and marble bar front anchors the space, complemented by bespoke fringed lamps and back bar displays bearing the original “S” logo of the hotel. The redesign also transformed the former dining space into a series of private dining rooms leading to a new restaurant called Lion’s Den, helmed by Michelin-starred chef Michael White and named for the stone lions at the building’s entrance. “This gave the space more of a grand arrival experience and allowed us to create a greeter moment and as such the Lions Den feels like more of a destination within the building,” Parker explains.

Cozy restaurant corner with elegant decor, framed painting, and plush seating under soft lighting.The Stoneleigh

A corner table view at Lion’s Den.

The 11th floor—once the Colonel’s private Draper-designed penthouse—is what Parker singles out as the hotel’s most extraordinary space. In addition to five signature suites and meeting rooms, the level houses the Colonel’s original music room, dining room, and library. “It’s dressed in 400-year-old, hand-carved paneling, which Draper imported herself from London, and the triple height spaces as a ‘minstrel’s gallery’ overlooking it where bands can play,” Parker says. “Our furniture approach for this room was more refined and rich than some of the other areas, and it helped create one of the spaces I have most enjoyed in the decade since co-founding Fettle.”

Elegant bedroom with vintage decor, plush bedding, and floral curtains by a sunlit window.The Stoneleigh

A look at the Oscar de la Renta-designed tapestries in the Draper Suite.

Luxurious bedroom with floral wallpaper, green velvet sofa, and pink armchairs.The Stoneleigh

Inside the master bedroom of the Presidential Suite.

Of the hotel’s 176 guest rooms, 56 are suites. The 12th floor Penthouse Suite—once favored by guests including Elvis Presley and Audrey Hepburn—draws on the Asian-inspired origins of the Colonel’s sleeping quarters, reinterpreted through a 1930s lens and featuring one of the largest penthouse terraces in Dallas. For the Draper Suite, the studio imagined where Draper herself might choose to reside, centering the room around a lavish bed canopy and drapery crafted in fabric by Oscar de la Renta. The Presidential Suite features Draper’s signature style of pattern matching across the headboard, drapery, and a baldachin in chintz from Lee Jofa. Maggie’s Suite, named for the alleged mistress of the hotel’s manager who legend has it still haunts the property, features a custom tapestry headboard and an adjacent boudoir with a bespoke dressing table.

For Parker, the goal was never to impose a new identity on the building, but to let the building assert its own. “Ideally guests will depart with a sense, either consciously or subconsciously, of Stoneleigh’s layered history as well as an appreciation for the property’s rare balance of gravitas and wit,” he says.

Rachel King (she/her) is a news writer at Town & Country. Before joining T&C, she spent nearly a decade as an editor at Fortune. Her work covering travel and lifestyle has appeared in Forbes, Observer, Robb Report, Cruise Critic, and Cool Hunting, among others. Originally from San Francisco, she lives in New York with her wife, their daughter, and a precocious labradoodle. Follow her on Instagram at @rk.passport.