The Architects Newspaper, October 2008
The KressNamed for the five-and-dime that opened in this location in 1934, The Kress, the latest Hollywood nightclub, was originally designed by Edward F. Sibbert, who built over 50 distinctive Art Deco-style buildings across the country for the Kress company. (This location’s more famous occupant, Frederick’s of Hollywood, painted the place purple and plastered over the stunning detail of the pillared Art Deco ceilings inside.) Developer Michael Viscuso, who is known as the nightlife king of San Diego for helping reinvigorate that city’s Gaslamp District, pumped $26 million into the building, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Davis and Andrea Krumins of Newport Beach-based Davis Ink imbued the five floors – 38,000 square feet of interior space – with multiple personalities. “It’s a series of micro-environments that fit together,” said Davis about creating five distinct clubs, each fitted with a 1930s-era architectural style, reinterpreted. The first floor restaurant drips with glittery Art Deco chinoiserie; the rooftop is in sorbet shades of Hollywood Regency. The Kruminses piled on color and texture at every chance – hand-painted koi wallpaper, backlit acrylic photos of lotus flowers, and intentionally outrageous custom lighting by Maura Daniel.
