Founded in 1882, Philadelphia’s New Century Guild moved into an Italianate brick rowhouse in 1906, where it offered a library, a dining hall, performances and classes, and accommodations to its members. That those members were women, including musicians, writers, and painters, was revolutionary for the time.
In 2018, husband-and-wife developers Michael and Brennan Tomasetti bought the Center City property, after the Guild sought to deaccession some of its assets. Assembling a locally based design team, including Rohe Creative and architects Moto Designshop, they embarked on a transformation of the mansion into the 12-room Guild House Hotel.
Gifted with a foundation of rich mahogany paneling, wood flooring, cabinetry, leaded glass windows, and original mantle pieces, Rohe Creative further dug into the club’s archives and those of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania across the street to flesh out narratives inspired by “some of the amazing members of the Guild,” says principal Kate Rohrer. “We wanted to honor the Guild’s history without making it feel like you’re sleeping in a museum.”
One of the grandest rooms, housed in the former library and starring original paneling and shelves laden with books, honors Eliza Turner, a writer and the founder of the Guild. “She owned an estate in the nearby Brandywine Valley,” points out Rohrer, “and would bring kids from the city out to her farm, so we included a pastorale mural in a soft green palette as part of her narrative.”
The Emily guestroom, named for painter Emily Sartain, remains one of Rohrer’s personal favorites, however. Thonet-style chairs nod to Sartain’s time studying in Paris, “while amber accents evoke the copper mezzotint engravings that she became known for,” Rohrer says. “I feel a personal connection because she was the director at the women’s art school that became Moore College of Art and Design, my alma mater.”
