Chateau Wine Bar

Located in Grand Rapids, Michigan, this coffee shop–by-day and wine bar–by-night transforms a timeworn brick building through sensitive updates that emphasize its historic character. In the front half of the space, we preserved and highlighted the brick walls’ uneven tan hues and varying textures, the gridded tin ceilings, the weathered wood floors, and the crown molding that lines the perimeter. Crisp new elements—fluted glass windows, suspended bronze and wood shelving, and an articulated, curving wood bar base—bring a distinctly contemporary precision without verging on distraction. A built-in banquette flanks the entirety of one wall with seating upholstered in green velvet cushions.

An arched doorway transitions to the lounge at the back of the space where the same deep green color reappears, this time through the painted brick and textured Venetian plaster coating the walls. Here, terrazzo-like flooring, created by grinding down the original cement one, round out a visually bold yet intimate space.