A grand, century-old home on the edge of Montrose and Midtown has been transformed into Houston’s newest boutique inn.

Set in the historic Avondale neighborhood, The Marlene will begin welcoming guests this week. The three-block property’s nine guest rooms are spread across the 6,200-square-foot main house, a guest cottage and a carriage house. The stately, neoclassical main house with ornate columns and sweeping verandas dates back to the early 1900s.

The woman behind the project is antiques dealer Lily Barfield who has filled The Marlene with furnishings and interiors she’s hand-selected on sourcing trips to France. Each of the inn’s suites is individually designed with its own unique aesthetic and named for an influential woman in Barfield’s life—Marlene was her grandmother.

A cozy cocktail space, Bar Madonna, anchors the common area of the property. Houston hospitality professional Tom Hardy, who serves as The Marlene’s general manager, also developed the beverage program. Barfield hopes Bar Madonna becomes a haven for both guests and visitors looking for a place to slow down in the heart of the city.

The Marlene is the most intimate of Houston’s recently opened and soon-to-come boutique properties. Bunkhouse Hospitality opened the 71-room Hotel Saint Augustine late last year on the edge of The Menil campus in Montrose. That same company will open Hotel Daphne, a 47-room property on 20th Street in the Heights later this year. The additional properties follow the 2021 debut of the renovated La Colombe d’Or Hotel, which brought 32 suites to Montrose Boulevard in the property’s historic mansion and a new mixed-use tower. 

Photo: The veranda attached to The Nanette Suite at The Marlene; credit Julie Soefer