American Trade Hotel &”Hall is the luxury debut property in a portfolio of unique, independent projects conceived and managed by Atelier Ace – the creative team behind Ace Hotel Group. Developed in partnership with the Conservatorio – a real estate development company dedicated to the revitalisation of the Casco Viejo district of Panama – the building and its rejuvenated interior are steeped in the city’s varied and colourful history.
While hotel design is increasingly referencing locality and custom, it is not often that you come across a hotel that is so utterly entrenched in the historic and social evolution of the city in which it is situated. The architecture, and even the newly-refurbished interior of the American Trade Hotel & Hall, acts as a veritable gauge for the significant upheaval that took place in Panama between the structure’s inception in 1917, and 2007, when the Conservatorio purchased the property.
Built by Ramon Arias Feraud, who is in fact the great-grandfather of one of the current owners, the American Trade Developing Company building – as it was then known – made headlines as Panama’s first ‘skyscraper’. But this prestige was relatively shortlived, as the 1950s saw the neighbourhood’s wealthier residents begin to migrate towards the car-friendly suburbs.
The dictatorships of the 1960s and 70s, and the subsequent middle class exodus compounded this decline – the structure coming to embody decades of neglect and socioeconomic instability. By 2000, the American Trade building was abandoned, and occupied by a street gang that used its commanding height to control a wide swath of the neighbourhood.
Despite the graffiti and vandalism, the building’s integral architectural details were miraculously still intact when the Conservatorio purchased it in 2007. This authentic beauty, coupled with the state of transition Casco Viejo is entering into as a UNESCO-designated historic district, means that the hotel is at the very centre of the area’s newly burgeoning and cosmopolitan community of influencers and creatives.
Atelier Ace and Conservatorio worked with Los Angeles-based collective, Commune Design, and Panamanian company, Hache Uve, to restore the structure in accordance with Panamanian historical preservation laws and UNESCO World Heritage protection and conservation guidelines.
The interior of the hotel celebrates the colourful history of Casco Viejo, referencing its diverse blend of cultural and design influences. Having undergone radical transformations - from its origins as luxury apartments, to a bank, department store and its more recent use as headquarters for a neighbourhood gang – Commune Design borrowed from an assortment of 19th century styles to re-imagine the American Trade building as a family-run luxury hotel.
From Austrian secessionist through Mexican modernist and Italian postmodern, the design scheme of the hotel proudly exhibits the building’s past and current position as a global crossroads for international trade and cultural influences.
The guest rooms express a sense of their tropical colonial roots, emanating a warmth and character unique to properties with this degree of historic significance. All of the rooms feature high ceilings and boast absorbing views of Casco’s plazas, churches or the entrance to the Panama Canal.
Another key feature of the hotel is its expansive event spaces. Filled with original architecture, the latest technology, double-pane glass windows for acoustic isolation, and a sizeable kitchen, these spaces are capable of catering for functions of up to 800 people.
The Grand Ballroom on the first floor, in particular, adds something greatly unique to Panama City in terms of its history and warmth, with striking herringbone wood floors, gargantuan windows, 30-foot ceilings and 5210ft² of event space.
Besides these impressive event spaces, the American Trade Hotel’s offering of bars and restaurants is by no means disappointing. The Dining Room – headed up by eminent chef Clara Icaza – is joined by Danilo’s Jazz Club, the realisation of Grammy-winning Panamanian jazz pianist, Danilo Perez’s dream to bring a world-class jazz club to Panama. Drawing inspiration from decades of playing in jazz clubs around the world, the 50-seat club is set to host a melange of international artists and local talent, many of whom trained with Danilo at his foundation in Panama, and at the Berklee School of Music.
Meanwhile, the Lobby Cafe and Bar serves up appetizers and light dishes, while the Coffeeshop offers coffee from Panama’s Café de Eleta, as well as freshly baked pastries and baked goods from Chef Luis Bula.
Crucially, the design team maintained a stringent awareness of the hotel’s impact on the environment throughout the restoration. Sustainable features were incoporated wherever possible, from guest room furniture manufactured with hardwood reclaimed from Hurrican Felix in Nicaragua, to a property-wide recycling programme – the first of its kind in the neighbourhood.
All flooring is made from certified local hardwoods reclaimed by underwater logging in the Panama Canal basin, and finished with VOC-compliant, GREENGUARD-certified Bona¢ floor finishes.
