Hotel Saint Augustine

Hotel Saint Augustine opened in mid-December 2024 as Bunkhouse Hotels' first Houston property, a 71-room campus of five low-rise buildings on two acres in Montrose, directly across from the Menil Collection. Built new rather than converted, it paired architecture firm Lake|Flato with New York-Wyoming design studio Post Company and chef Aaron Bludorn's all-day restaurant Perseid, and within a year had picked up a Michelin Key, one of only a handful awarded in Texas.

The place

The hotel sits at 4110 Loretto Drive in Montrose, Houston's longtime bohemian district turned Museum District neighbor, immediately across the street from the Menil Collection and within walking distance of the Menil Drawing Institute, Rothko Chapel and Cy Twombly Gallery. The setting is residential and tree-lined rather than a hotel strip, low-slung bungalows and live oaks standing in for the tower blocks of downtown Houston a few miles east. It is a location built for gallery mornings and porch evenings more than convention traffic, putting the hotel closer to Houston's art institutions than any competitor in the city.

The concept

Hotel Saint Augustine was developed by The Marchbanks Company and operated by Bunkhouse Hotels, the Austin-founded group behind properties like Hotel San José and Hotel Havana, marking the brand's first move into Houston. Rather than adapt an existing structure, the team built new: five two-story buildings arranged around courtyards, designed by Texas firm Lake|Flato with landscape architecture by Ten Eyck and interiors by Post Company. The scale is deliberately domestic — muted brick, raw wood and black steel, with more than half the rooms opening onto private balconies or terraces — so the campus reads closer to a cluster of houses than a single hotel block. Inside, Post Company leaned into what write-ups have called "surrealist whimsy": deep-blue walls, theatrical drapery, a burled-walnut reception desk, and bathrooms finished in deep-green tile with marquee-style vanity lighting said to reference Dominique de Menil's own bathroom. Guest rooms are calmer by comparison, ranging from compact Petite Queens to larger Atelier suites, some with screened porches set among the trees. The Michelin Guide, which awarded the hotel a Key in its 2025 selection, called it "thoughtfully composed" with "a strong design point of view" — recognition that arrived less than a year after opening and made it the only Texas hotel on that year's list.

Dining & wellness

Perseid, the hotel's all-day restaurant, is led by Houston chef Aaron Bludorn, a James Beard Award semifinalist already known locally for his restaurant Bludorn. The menu leans on Texas Gulf Coast ingredients with French-inspired technique, serving breakfast through dinner as well as room service and the adjoining Augustine Lounge and Listening Room, an all-day lobby bar built around a vintage tape recorder and record player. The property also has a circular heated pool at its center and flexible event space above the restaurant, seating up to 250 guests with views over the courtyards.