You’ve heard the expression “everything old is new again.” At Lido House Hotel, everything new is old again. Sort of.
When Newport Beach resident and Lido House owner Robert D. Olson built the iconic 135-room hotel more than eight years ago, he envisioned the property as an extension of his former Balboa Island home, bringing an elevated “local’s beach house” sensibility to the guest experience. So while it was certainly new, it has an old-fashioned charm that perfectly embodies a seaside escape.
“Lido House was inspired by the home that I built on Balboa Island; it’s very Nantucket in its detail, down to the color of my front door on Balboa Island,” Olson told the NB Indy. “That front door color became the guest room door colors. It’s a rust maroon color. It’s one of a dozen colors you can paint your door on Nantucket.”
In addition to the hotel, Lido House has a noted restaurant named the Mayor’s Table (Lido House was built on the site of the former Newport Beach City Hall), a rooftop lounge, and five designer cottages.
Make that 10 designer cottages.
Last month, Lido House unveiled five new designer cottages, each created by a Southern California-based interior design firm. The three-story cottages pair residential-style spaces for gathering and entertaining with the amenities and service of a hotel. They are ideal for family vacations, friends’ getaways, bridal weekends, and longer coastal stays.
The five new additions bring distinct personalities to the collection:
- Ocean Boulevard Cottage from Barclay Butera Interior Design: Inspired by sun, sea and sand, Butera brings his signature casual elegance to a light-filled beach house with an inviting great room and rooftop lounge.
- Castaways Cottage from Barely Beige Studio: Designed by Nicole Sayer, Castaways adds another individual expression of Southern California beach-house living.
- Yacht Club Cottage from Diane Johnson Design: Amy Trespus and Kim Woods imagine a Newport Beach home collected and enjoyed by generations, with tailored stripes, polished wood, nautical touches and a rooftop made for gathering.
- Beacon Bay Cottage from SKOUT Design: Ashley Clark channels nostalgic coastal Americana through vintage finds, seascapes, playful wallpapers and unexpected pops of red, including a statement kitchen range.
- Echo Beach Cottage from Raili CA Design: Raili Clasen and Hayle Alder draw on Newport Beach’s 1970s surf culture, combining warm woods, organic materials, bold plaid and sunny splashes of color.
Together, the cottages offer a way to experience Newport Beach through the eyes of Southern California designers.
“We gave designers the okay and told them you get to pick one of these colors for your front door, so they all picked their colors, and then they pulled that color inside,” said Olson.
The new cottages are adjacent to Lido House on the site of a demolished old fire station.
“It was fire station number 2 that we tore down,” recalled Olson. “When we had a demolition party, I asked our fire chief to bring out all the firefighters who had been stationed there. It was a fire station for 60-plus years, and so we had a couple of fire trucks out there and the ladders up, and guys that had worked there, so it was kind of a celebration of what these firefighters have done for our community. Then we had 100 cans of spray paint. We graffitied all over the place. Then we had a tractor come and just munch into the building. It was fun to see. I got to participate.”
As to Olson’s ongoing vision for the property, he noted that “we continue to raise the bar at Lido House in terms of what the offerings are to our guests including food and beverage as well as the facility itself. If you’re not growing and expanding and improving, you’re falling apart. We know that, especially in the hospitality industry.”
Other recent improvements include moving the coffee shop into the courtyard area by the pool and converting the space into an intimate omakase restaurant.
“We have four Japanese chefs who create a 14-course omakase that is out of this world—it’s just amazing food,” stated Olson.
For more information, visit https://www.lidohousehotel.com.
