The Sunset Montauk was a casual, no-frills motel that first opened in 1983, back when it was a quaint, blue-collar town with a quiet surfer community—a far cry from the well-to-do, party-seeking yuppies that Montauk is known for today. While the motel is no longer, the new hotel that’s taken its place seeks to honor the laidback era from which it belonged. Workshop/APD and interiors firm Ward + Gray helped refresh the New York getaway, Hotel Corduroy, for new owners, Blue Flag Capital. The design strikes a balance between something new and something that feels already part of the locale.
Workshop/APD preserved the site’s three pre-existing buildings but updated the exterior paint and entry doors. The facades and massing still read like motels with exterior corridors, sun-bleached wood decking, and suites with individual access doors.
Inside, the 29-room property was overhauled to recall a time when Montauk was about maritime craft, fishing, and a sense of bohemian culture. To that end, the color palette stays close to nature: deep greens to echo coastal reeds, warm pinks that evoke sun sets, and, of course, lots of blue.
The lobby asserts the stylish yet simple design language. A minimal wooden reception desk is the only hotel signifier in the space, the rest liken itself to a living room. Vintage finds, a midcentury modern shelving unit, and a blue striped rug lean more residential and slightly retro. A wall of cassette tapes, available for guests to borrow (the rooms are equipped with Bluetooth cassette-style speakers), greet guests with a sense of familiarity.
The guestrooms continue eschewing ornamentation and shiny, glitzy luxury. Instead, tactile materials embrace beach-side living, where objects and materials are swept by the wind and faded or oxidized by the sun. The rooms are enveloped in grasscloth wallpaper that wraps both walls and ceilings—and recalls the building’s motel days. Reeded bamboo makes up the bedside tables, while rattan wraps consoles and other furniture. Textiles are used as wall decor. Slender columns of wooden tongue and groove help divide beds from work desks without detracting from the design.
The different types of rooms are designated by color. Soft coral is used for the king-sized bed rooms, inspired by the hues in seashells. In rooms with queen beds, a muted blue envelopes the walls.
Finished with wooden, 60’s-inflected furniture and nautical-inspired ship lights, Hotel Corduroy offers a relaxed retreat, where the point is to kick back and enjoy the salty air and crash of the waves.