When Jim Gottier and Andrea Ball were looking for a firm that could hang wallpaper in their indoor mini-golf venue, the choice was easy, Gottier says.
“I just Googled ‘wallpaper hangers,’ and [H.J. Holtz & Son] were clearly the most venerable folks,” he says. “I saw some others [listed online], but Holtz was by far the best and most professional.”
Gottier and Ball’s “highfalutin’ mini golf” opened in July 2019 inside the old John Marshall Hotel. The couple created a team of professionals – from a well-known mini golf designer to artists (one of whom has won a Guggenheim Fellowship) to a novelist – to create a space that both invites and baffles participants.
“Our whole thing is we want to create a place that has romance, mystery and unease,” Gottier says. “We like to make it feel like a surreal stage. People can come in and be characters, acting out their own drama or comedy.”
Following a closure mandated by state coronavirus pandemic restrictions, Hotel Greene has reopened by reservation only, with guests able to lounge – at a distance from one another – while enjoying refreshments and then proceeding to their own game of golf.
As they move throughout the space, visitors will notice the dramatic Lewis & Wood wallpaper, used to create focal points within larger spaces. In the lobby, Holtz & Son installed wallpaper at the front counter, the bar, and around the fireplace, where a lion gazes serenely from his portrait. Downstairs, Holtz craftspeople hung paper in the areas hosting the 9th and 10th holes.
More recently, Gottier and Ball re-imagined the pool hall they had been operating next door. Now billed as Hotel Greene’s ballroom, the multi-use space can be reserved for private meetings, weddings, or other events. A team from H.J. Holtz and Son returned to paper a wall that serves as the backdrop for a 17th century painting of a goose.
“It’s a large, beautiful, active space,” Gottier says. “Every hotel has a ballroom where things like that happen. We’re a wonderful fake hotel.”
Gottier says the Hotel Greene team is thankful to have reopened, even at reduced capacity. “We are big enough so we can give folks the Hotel Greene experience as we wait for a vaccine,” he says. “We have wonderful protocols in place. Customers are really enjoying themselves.”
And that’s the goal, he adds. “This really is a site-specific art project. There are plenty of things on the course and in the lobby for people to ponder. It’s okay if you don’t get it all the first time.”
For reservations, visit www.hotelgreene.com/rates.