Kelly Wearstler's most Texas expression. The rooftop pool is a serious proposition. The bar is better than the neighbourhood.
The Austin Proper Hotel opened in 2019 in the Second Street District — a mixed-use development at the western edge of downtown — with interior design by Kelly Wearstler that is simultaneously the most characteristically Wearstler and the most characteristically Texan of her hotel commissions. The materials are local: Texas limestone, live oak, and custom ceramics by Austin artists. The colour palette draws on the hill country's golden light and scrubby vegetation. The overall effect is maximalist restraint, which sounds contradictory and isn't.
The 244 rooms occupy 32 floors and offer a range of city views depending on orientation — the upper-floor rooms facing northwest have views of the Colorado River and the hill country beyond. Rooms are generous by Austin standards, with the entry-level rooms starting at 400 square feet. The rooftop pool on the 28th floor is the most dramatically positioned pool in the city.
The Peacock restaurant on the ground floor serves a menu inspired by the food traditions of the American South — fried chicken, gulf seafood, Texas-raised beef — interpreted with a seriousness that the neighborhood's tourist footfall doesn't require but the hotel's standard demands. The Bar Peached serves cocktails with the same intelligence. The hotel's proximity to the Warehouse District's independent restaurant scene makes it an excellent base for Austin's most interesting dining.
The Austin Proper's combination of design quality, the 28th-floor pool, and the proximity to the Warehouse District and Lady Bird Lake makes it the most comfortable solo hotel in central Austin. A solo weekend — Peacock dinner, morning run on the hike-and-bike trail, afternoon at the Blanton Museum of Art — is achievable from this address without a car. See all solo retreat hotels →
The rooftop pool and bar, bookable for private events, is the Austin bachelorette starting point that requires no explanation and no apology. The hotel's location between downtown and the Warehouse District gives a group access to both the 6th Street live music corridor and the Rainey Street bar scene within a 15-minute walk. See all bachelor/bachelorette hotels →
From $250/night. Check availability.
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