The Inn at Mattei's Tavern by AvroKO: Official Interior Project
The view through a dark timber doorway at The Inn at Mattei’s Tavern is an introduction to the whole project. One room holds a fireplace, portraits and a long table; another waits beyond it. The interiors unfold through thresholds and changes of atmosphere. AvroKO’s work for the Los Olivos property builds on an inn established in 1886, with a new chapter announced by Auberge in February 2023. [1] [2]
A collection of buildings
The setting is essential to that sequence. Architect DMHA describes a 6.5-acre site where restored historic structures sit alongside new accommodation. In Caitlin Atkinson’s photographs, the white Tavern faces the street with an extended porch, while a timber water tower provides a recognisable marker inside the grounds. The buildings keep their separate outlines. Moving between them becomes part of the experience, with paths, planted edges and lawn supplying intervals between enclosed rooms. [3]
The landscape also changes how the architecture is read. A straight gravel path makes a clear approach to one of the timber-clad buildings; lower planting softens the meeting of wall and ground. Elsewhere, a long pool draws the eye towards another building across the water. These are outdoor spaces with distinct proportions and boundaries, each offering a different way of approaching the surrounding rooms. [3]
Rooms with accumulated character
Inside the Tavern, AvroKO keeps the historic building at the centre of the scheme. The studio identifies the stone fireplace, brown wainscoting and red-and-gold flocked wallpaper among the surviving features. Furniture from different periods contributes another layer: antique rugs and original lights sit alongside newly made leather chairs. The effect depends on relationships between objects and surfaces, leaving room for irregularity in their shapes and finishes. [2]
The photographed sitting room makes that approach tangible. The pale upper walls catch the light, while the dark lower panelling gives the room a firm base. A portrait above the fireplace and a chandelier occupy different heights within the volume. An open doorway carries the eye towards the bar, so the room reads as a place to pause within a larger route. The contrast between the bright plaster and the dense timber gives the arrangement much of its depth.
A lighter register for the guestrooms
In the guestrooms, a dark four-poster bed supplies a precise outline against pale walls and windows. AvroKO describes a landscape-derived palette and the use of oak floors, painted wainscoting and exposed beams. The photographed bed leaves the view through the room largely open: its narrow uprights frame the space without interrupting the view. Texture comes through bedding, curtains and the rug, giving the room a softer density than the Tavern’s collection of pictures and furniture. [2]
The project’s continuity comes from these shifts in scale. The porch mediates between street and building; paths connect separate volumes; doorways carry views from one room to the next. New work participates in a sequence already shaped by the old inn. That gives the restoration a convincing spatial foundation, with history encountered through movement and use as well as through the objects placed on display.
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