A team of local creatives bring a hit series to life with a meticulously designed hotel room themed after ‘The Queens Gambit’
In an effort to highlight Lexington’s starring role in the mega-popular Netflix series “The Queen’s Gambit,” two of the city’s premier marketing arms – VisitLex and creative agency Cornett – have teamed up with 21c Museum Hotel and an all-star team of local creatives on an interactive installation that pays homage to the show and the 1983 Walter Tevis novel on which it was based. The Harmon Room at 21 is a thoughtfully designed boutique hotel room teeming with “The Queen’s Gambit” details, designed by interior designer Isabel Ladd and preservationist Lucy Jones and available to rent by the night.
Named for Beth Harmon, the orphaned chess prodigy in the show, the retro room is filled with vintage accessories, nods to the show’s most memorable moments and characters, and period furniture from both private collectors and local antique shop Scout.
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The idea for “The Queen’s Gambit”-inspired boutique hotel room at 21c, which is available to rent by the night, originated from creatives at Cornett and VisitLex. Photo furnished
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The idea for “The Queen’s Gambit”-inspired boutique hotel room at 21c, which is available to rent by the night, originated from creatives at Cornett and VisitLex. Photo furnished
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The idea for “The Queen’s Gambit”-inspired boutique hotel room at 21c, which is available to rent by the night, originated from creatives at Cornett and VisitLex. Photo furnished
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The idea for “The Queen’s Gambit”-inspired boutique hotel room at 21c, which is available to rent by the night, originated from creatives at Cornett and VisitLex. Photo furnished
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The idea for “The Queen’s Gambit”-inspired boutique hotel room at 21c, which is available to rent by the night, originated from creatives at Cornett and VisitLex. Photo furnished
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The idea for “The Queen’s Gambit”-inspired boutique hotel room at 21c, which is available to rent by the night, originated from creatives at Cornett and VisitLex. Photo furnished
“This is a project that checked all my boxes: 1960s design, literature, the moving image, hospitality and promoting the city of Lexington,” said Jones. “It has been my not-so-secret ambition to one day restore a vintage motel to full 1960s period detail, and I have been quietly hoarding furniture to that end. All of those pieces finally had a place to go!”
The room’s walls are adorned with striking custom wallpaper that summons the stunning colors and patterns that were a hallmark of the series. “Lucy and I knew we needed wallpaper, but traditional pasted wallpaper in a mod pattern and colorway proved impossible to source,” said Ladd. They tapped local designer Alex K. Mason of Ferrick Mason, Inc., to create the special design, which is named “The Knight’s Gambit.”
Incredibly, the entire project came together in less than two weeks, from concept to installation.
“I like the challenge of a tight deadline, but I had never worked on one as tight as this,” said Mason of the ambitious endeavor. “Normally, I can tweak something forever trying to find that perfect design, but this had to be approved by others and printed fast, so there was no second guessing.”
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The retro room is filled with vintage accessories, nods to the show’s most memorable moments and characters. Photo furnished
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The retro room is filled with vintage accessories, nods to the show’s most memorable moments and characters. Photo furnished
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The retro room is filled with vintage accessories, nods to the show’s most memorable moments and characters. Photo furnished
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The retro room is filled with vintage accessories, nods to the show’s most memorable moments and characters. Photo furnished
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The retro room is filled with vintage accessories, nods to the show’s most memorable moments and characters. Photo furnished
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The retro room is filled with vintage accessories, nods to the show’s most memorable moments and characters. Photo furnished
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The retro room is filled with vintage accessories, nods to the show’s most memorable moments and characters. Photo furnished
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The retro room is filled with vintage accessories, nods to the show’s most memorable moments and characters. Photo furnished
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The retro room is filled with vintage accessories, nods to the show’s most memorable moments and characters. Photo furnished
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The retro room is filled with vintage accessories, nods to the show’s most memorable moments and characters. Photo furnished
The room features copies of Chess Review magazine as well as rare chess books on loan from local retailer Black Swan Books – and, of course, a handmade walnut-and-maple chess board, which was produced by Lexington nonprofit Iron Bridge Woodshop. (The limited-edition board is available for purchase at the Lexington Visitors Center while supplies last.)
Guests who book the room are also gifted reproductions of the “Lex Liquors” tote bags seen in the show, but the most impressive part of the room might just be the larger-than-life chess board installation suspended from the ceiling above the bed, an artistic re-creation of Harmon’s drug-induced hallucinations on the show.
The Harmon Room will be available at least through the end of May, and guests can visit 21cmuseumhotels.com/offer/the-harmon-room for photos and additional information. For rates and availability, call the hotel. Fans who can’t get enough of the series can also check out the VisitLex “Queen’s Gambit Guide to Lexington, Kentucky,” a list of must-see landmarks and attractions from the show. A link to the guide is available on the “Travel Guides” page on the VisitLex website, www.visitlex.com/travel-guides/ .
Designers Alex Mason, Isabel Ladd and Lucy Jones (pictured above, l-r) collaborated to create the “The Queen’s Gambit”-inspired boutique hotel room. Photo furnished