CH Projects Debuts a 31-Room Design Hotel Built for Drama
The Baby Grand opens May 14 in Coronado, and it’s designed to make you forget you’re in a beach town hotel. CH Projects and award-winning design studio Post Company built a 31-room escape at 1315 Orange Ave. that trades predictable coastal vibes for something far more theatrical.
This is the second collaboration between CH Projects and Post Company. Their first, The Lafayette Hotel & Club in San Diego’s North Park neighborhood, set expectations high. The Baby Grand pushes further into avant-garde hospitality with private lagoons, overgrown tropical landscaping, a clandestine champagne bar and guest rooms anchored by custom iridescent clamshell beds.
The property sits steps from the Coronado shoreline but feels worlds away once you step inside. Musical artist Swizz Beatz created a transportive soundscape that plays throughout the lobby. Vintage tapestries inspired by ancient Pompeian wall paintings line the walls, framed by custom trim beneath a fabric ceiling that rises to support a dramatic central chandelier. The high-gloss check-in desk doubles as a bar serving coffee by day and cocktails at night. Statues and artifacts scattered throughout suggest fragments from another era, including one that conceals the entrance to Fallen Empire, a hidden oyster and champagne bar tucked discreetly behind the lobby.
Fallen Empire operates as a reservation-only jewel box bar. Mirrored walls, solid-brass booths upholstered in red mohair and an ornate mosaic floor depicting life under the sea create an intimate, almost clandestine atmosphere. Built-in champagne buckets and padded armrests outfit each booth. A painted bar inspired by “The Raft of the Medusa” serves grower champagnes, rare vintages and champagne cocktails alongside Kumamoto oysters, scallop crudos and uni tartares.
Each of the 31 guest rooms centers on a custom iridescent clamshell bed. Schumacher wallpaper featuring tropical scenes wraps the walls, paired with high-gloss wood ceilings, oxblood trim and parquet flooring. Furnishings include a custom chaise, animal-print stools, marble tables and a curated mix of vintage artwork and sculpture. An oversized in-room bar invites you to stay put.
The bathrooms take up nearly half of each room’s footprint. Pocket doors reveal intricate mosaic tile flooring, fluted marble wash consoles, glass-enclosed shower rooms and clawfoot soaking tubs. Bold wallpaper, jewel-toned mirroring and custom light fixtures finish the space.
Night Hawk, the hotel’s open-fire Greek restaurant, anchors the dining experience. The property also features lush, overgrown landscaping that gives way to private lagoons and hidden corners designed for rediscovery.
The Baby Grand draws inspiration from Coronado’s early beach culture and the romance of places lost to time. It embraces what CH Projects calls a polychromatic pastiche of coastal Californian identity. This isn’t a hotel that blends in. It demands attention and rewards curiosity.
The Baby Grand is the sister property to The Lafayette Hotel & Club and joins CH Projects’ portfolio of more than 20 distinct hospitality venues, including Born and Raised, False Idol and Raised by Wolves.
Opening rates start at $350. Reservations are open now for stays beginning May 14. Visit thebabygrandcoronado.com or call 619-853-BABY. Follow @babygrandcrowncity on Instagram for updates.
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