Sarah Tomerlin Lee
“It's frightening to take a building that lives in someone’s memory and make it come true. The fact is, memories are often brighter than reality. So, as we restored, we also had to modify the Willard [Hotel]—increasing lighting, altering the color scheme—without it being apparent.”
-- Sarah Tomerlin Lee
Interiors
Rye Town Hilton, c.1973
Rye Town Hilton, Rye NY
Sybil's, New York Hilton, c.1977
Sybil's, New York Hilton, New York NY
Helmsley Palace, c.1980
In 1974, with legally mandated historic preservation a powerful force in New York City, the the developer Harry Helmsley leased the landmarked Villard Houses, designed by McKim, Mead, and White and completed in 1883, with the intention of using the existing building and its courtyard facing Madison Avenue as the public spaces of a new 500-room high-rise hotel. Sarah and her team meticulously restored some historic elements, such as a marble fireplace designed by sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens, which they saved from demolition and moved to a new, prominent location. They preserved and enhanced the interiors’ eclectic mix of styles. from Victorian to Italian Renaissance, and Edwardian. At the same time, they carefully added elements required by the building’s new use, including a check-in desk and a bar.
Woodcliff Lake Hilton, c.1980
Woodcliff Lake Hilton, Woodcliff NJ
Le Parker Meridien, c.1981
Around 1980 businessman Jack Parker acquired a narrow midblock site running through from Fifty-sixth to Fifty-seventh Street in midtown Manhattan, to serve as the site for his first hotel. Sarah and her team, which included her son Todd, an architect, confronted the awkward site by creating an 18-foot-wide, 100-foot-long, five-story-high corridor linking the streets to the north and south. This space functioned as a pedestrian “street,” complete with both natural light and electric lights emulating the daily cycle of the sun. Articulated in a grand postmodern style, drawing inspiration from the past with Doric columns, arches, and prominent moldings, Sarah designed an inviting and theatrical space that accommodated the hotel’s entrance on Fifty-sixth Street, while providing direct access to the more fashionable street to the north.
Warwick Post Oak Hotel, c.1982
Warwick Post Oak Hotel, Houston TX
Le Meridien New Orleans, c.1983
Le Meridien New Orleans, New Orleans LA
Doral Country Club, c.1988
Doral Country Club, Miami FL
Doral Spa, c.1988
Doral Spa, Miami FL
Wooden form used in the production of architectural elements featured at the Doral Spa, Miami Florida
Willard Hotel, c.1989
By the 1960s, the Willard Hotel, long a prominent feature of both Washington DC’s built environment and its elevated social circles, had become dilapidated, as had much of Pennsylvania Avenue where the hotel stood. The Willard, opened in 1901, closed in 1968. Through the combined efforts of architectural preservation activists and the federal government, the building was saved from potential demolition. The renovation was realized by a team comprising an architect, a developer, and a hotel management company. Tom Lee, Ltd. was brought in to work on the interiors. Deeming the original paint colors garish, yet still wanting the new interiors to evoke the old hotel, Sarah performed a balancing act between preservation and invention. The strategy, Sarah told Travel and Leisure in 1987, “is to be sensitive to what people want a great historic interior to have been, to fulfill the memories they would like to cherish.”
Bellevue Hotel, c.1990
Bellevue Hotel, Philadelphia PA
Radisson Empire Hotel, c.1991
Radisson Empire Hotel, New York NY
Doral Park Avenue, c.1991
Doral Park Avenue, New York NY
Driskill Hotel, c.1998
Driskill Hotel, Austin TX
Tom Lee Ltd. - Beyer Blinder Belle merger, 1994
In 1994, Sarah, then in her 80s, merged Tom Lee Ltd. with the large architectural firm Beyer Blinder Belle. While the merger was short-lived, she and her team designed a new auditorium for the New York School of Interior Design.