• Home
  • popular
  • EVENTS
  • submit-new-event
  • CHARITY GUIDE
  • Children
  • Education
  • Health
  • Veterans
  • Social Services
  • Arts + Culture
  • Animals
  • LGBTQ
  • New Charity
  • TRENDING NEWS
  • News
  • City Life
  • Entertainment
  • Sports
  • Home + Design
  • Travel
  • Real Estate
  • Restaurants + Bars
  • Arts
  • Society
  • Innovation
  • Fashion + Beauty
  • subscribe
  • about
  • series
  • Embracing Your Inner Cowboy
  • Green Living
  • Summer Fun
  • Real Estate Confidential
  • RX In the City
  • State of the Arts
  • Fall For Fashion
  • Cai's Odyssey
  • Comforts of Home
  • Good Eats
  • Holiday Gift Guide 2010
  • Holiday Gift Guide 2
  • Good Eats 2
  • HMNS Pirates
  • The Future of Houston
  • We Heart Hou 2
  • Music Inspires
  • True Grit
  • Hoops City
  • Green Living 2011
  • Cruizin for a Cure
  • Summer Fun 2011
  • Just Beat It
  • Real Estate 2011
  • Shelby on the Seine
  • Rx in the City 2011
  • Entrepreneur Video Series
  • Going Wild Zoo
  • State of the Arts 2011
  • Fall for Fashion 2011
  • Elaine Turner 2011
  • Comforts of Home 2011
  • King Tut
  • Chevy Girls
  • Good Eats 2011
  • Ready to Jingle
  • Houston at 175
  • The Love Month
  • Clifford on The Catwalk Htx
  • Let's Go Rodeo 2012
  • King's Harbor
  • FotoFest 2012
  • City Centre
  • Hidden Houston
  • Green Living 2012
  • Summer Fun 2012
  • Bookmark
  • 1987: The year that changed Houston
  • Best of Everything 2012
  • Real Estate 2012
  • Rx in the City 2012
  • Lost Pines Road Trip Houston
  • London Dreams
  • State of the Arts 2012
  • HTX Fall For Fashion 2012
  • HTX Good Eats 2012
  • HTX Contemporary Arts 2012
  • HCC 2012
  • Dine to Donate
  • Tasting Room
  • HTX Comforts of Home 2012
  • Charming Charlie
  • Asia Society
  • HTX Ready to Jingle 2012
  • HTX Mistletoe on the go
  • HTX Sun and Ski
  • HTX Cars in Lifestyle
  • HTX New Beginnings
  • HTX Wonderful Weddings
  • HTX Clifford on the Catwalk 2013
  • Zadok Sparkle into Spring
  • HTX Let's Go Rodeo 2013
  • HCC Passion for Fashion
  • BCAF 2013
  • HTX Best of 2013
  • HTX City Centre 2013
  • HTX Real Estate 2013
  • HTX France 2013
  • Driving in Style
  • HTX Island Time
  • HTX Super Season 2013
  • HTX Music Scene 2013
  • HTX Clifford on the Catwalk 2013 2
  • HTX Baker Institute
  • HTX Comforts of Home 2013
  • Mothers Day Gift Guide 2021 Houston
  • Staying Ahead of the Game
  • Wrangler Houston
  • First-time Homebuyers Guide Houston 2021
  • Visit Frisco Houston
  • promoted
  • eventdetail
  • Greystar Novel River Oaks
  • Thirdhome Go Houston
  • Dogfish Head Houston
  • LovBe Houston
  • Claire St Amant podcast Houston
  • The Listing Firm Houston
  • South Padre Houston
  • NextGen Real Estate Houston
  • Pioneer Houston
  • Collaborative for Children
  • Decorum
  • Bold Rock Cider
  • Nasher Houston
  • Houston Tastemaker Awards 2021
  • CityNorth
  • Urban Office
  • Villa Cotton
  • Luck Springs Houston
  • EightyTwo
  • Rectanglo.com
  • Silver Eagle Karbach
  • Mirador Group
  • Nirmanz
  • Bandera Houston
  • Milan Laser
  • Lafayette Travel
  • Highland Park Village Houston
  • Proximo Spirits
  • Douglas Elliman Harris Benson
  • Original ChopShop
  • Bordeaux Houston
  • Strike Marketing
  • Rice Village Gift Guide 2021
  • Downtown District
  • Broadstone Memorial Park
  • Gift Guide
  • Music Lane
  • Blue Circle Foods
  • Houston Tastemaker Awards 2022
  • True Rest
  • Lone Star Sports
  • Silver Eagle Hard Soda
  • Modelo recipes
  • Modelo Fighting Spirit
  • Athletic Brewing
  • Rodeo Houston
  • Silver Eagle Bud Light Next
  • Waco CVB
  • EnerGenie
  • HLSR Wine Committee
  • All Hands
  • El Paso
  • Avenida Houston
  • Visit Lubbock Houston
  • JW Marriott San Antonio
  • Silver Eagle Tupps
  • Space Center Houston
  • Central Market Houston
  • Boulevard Realty
  • Travel Texas Houston
  • Alliantgroup
  • Golf Live
  • DC Partners
  • Under the Influencer
  • Blossom Hotel
  • San Marcos Houston
  • Photo Essay: Holiday Gift Guide 2009
  • We Heart Hou
  • Walker House
  • HTX Good Eats 2013
  • HTX Ready to Jingle 2013
  • HTX Culture Motive
  • HTX Auto Awards
  • HTX Ski Magic
  • HTX Wonderful Weddings 2014
  • HTX Texas Traveler
  • HTX Cifford on the Catwalk 2014
  • HTX United Way 2014
  • HTX Up to Speed
  • HTX Rodeo 2014
  • HTX City Centre 2014
  • HTX Dos Equis
  • HTX Tastemakers 2014
  • HTX Reliant
  • HTX Houston Symphony
  • HTX Trailblazers
  • HTX_RealEstateConfidential_2014
  • HTX_IW_Marks_FashionSeries
  • HTX_Green_Street
  • Dating 101
  • HTX_Clifford_on_the_Catwalk_2014
  • FIVE CultureMap 5th Birthday Bash
  • HTX Clifford on the Catwalk 2014 TEST
  • HTX Texans
  • Bergner and Johnson
  • HTX Good Eats 2014
  • United Way 2014-15_Single Promoted Articles
  • Holiday Pop Up Shop Houston
  • Where to Eat Houston
  • Copious Row Single Promoted Articles
  • HTX Ready to Jingle 2014
  • htx woodford reserve manhattans
  • Zadok Swiss Watches
  • HTX Wonderful Weddings 2015
  • HTX Charity Challenge 2015
  • United Way Helpline Promoted Article
  • Boulevard Realty
  • Fusion Academy Promoted Article
  • Clifford on the Catwalk Fall 2015
  • United Way Book Power Promoted Article
  • Jameson HTX
  • Primavera 2015
  • Promenade Place
  • Hotel Galvez
  • Tremont House
  • HTX Tastemakers 2015
  • HTX Digital Graffiti/Alys Beach
  • MD Anderson Breast Cancer Promoted Article
  • HTX RealEstateConfidential 2015
  • HTX Vargos on the Lake
  • Omni Hotel HTX
  • Undies for Everyone
  • Reliant Bright Ideas Houston
  • 2015 Houston Stylemaker
  • HTX Renewable You
  • Urban Flats Builder
  • Urban Flats Builder
  • HTX New York Fashion Week spring 2016
  • Kyrie Massage
  • Red Bull Flying Bach
  • Hotze Health and Wellness
  • ReadFest 2015
  • Alzheimer's Promoted Article
  • Formula 1 Giveaway
  • Professional Skin Treatments by NuMe Express

    saluting the commodore

    Glamorous Texas estate offers elegant getaway for savvy Houstonians

    Lonnie Schiller
    Mar 31, 2021 | 1:32 pm
    The Commodore Perry Estate is now open.
    The Commodore Perry Estate is now open.
    Photo by Douglas Friedman

    As Houstonians are well aware, Austin is constantly heralded as America’s hottest city. The capital of the Lone Star State is seeing unprecedented growth, celebrity transplants (Elon Musk, anyone?), and non-stop development.

    Savvy visitors to Capital City looking for an escape from all the bustle, then, would be wise to consider skipping the busy hotel scene and opt for the Commodore Perry Estate, Austin’s prestigious, luxe getaway — which, though nestled in the Hill Country, feels worlds away.

    Sitting on the veranda of the renaissance revival mansion looking south over the pool and grounds calls to mind the Amalfi Coast in Italy (minus the sea), with the breeze and the clink of the fine china, the crisp service, and the high culinary standards.

    Commodore Perry is operated by Auberge Resorts Collection — which includes 19 properties across three continents, destinations such as Greece, Costa Rica, Mexico, and the Caribbean. The company started in 1981 with a single restaurant in a beautiful Napa Valley setting. Soon, they added individual cottages for guests: Auberge du Soleil. The same approach has continued for 40 years: building ultra-luxury inns in great locations, that emphasize local focus over chain-wide uniformity.

    Thus, with Austin getting so much attention both nationally and internationally for events such as South By Southwest, Austin City Limits, the Circuit of the Americas, a move to the buzzy city made sense. (Acquiring the land and acting as the developer was The Marchbanks Company and Clark Lyda Interests.)

    The centerpiece of the hotel is the original 10,000-square-foot mansion built in1928 and still listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Notably, it was the home of businessman Edgar Perry and his wife, Lutie. (Perry wasn’t a commodore; he made his fortune shipping cotton from Texas to Europe and travelling there frequently, hence the name.)

    Some of the rooms are in the mansion and some are in the adjacent inn — a total of 42 king hotel rooms and 12 suites. Entering the property over the crushed stone driveway you feel like you are visiting the home of a very wealthy friend, not a hotel.

    The original historic mansion aspect of the hotel was reimagined by internationally renowned designer Ken Fulk, a San Francisco based designer but one who was already a fan of the offbeat nearby town of Round Top, having regularly patronized the Round Top Antiques Fair. The newly built Inn portion of the property was designed by the celebrated firm of Moule & Polyzoides.

    In addition to the rooms and suites there is an organic urban farm, the signature garden restaurant, a member’s club, English gardens, a chapel for private events, and an ornately designed oversized outdoor pool on the south perimeter of the property.

    “I grew up in New Orleans, but I had family in Texas,” says Marco Bustamante, general manager of the Auberge. “Before I came to Austin, I helped open two other Auberge properties: one in Puerto Vallarta and one in Rivera Maya, then one in New England. Two years ago, I came to open Austin. By the time we were ready to open last July it was right in the middle of the pandemic. So, we haven’t actually had anything like normal since we opened.”

    That means the hotel hasn’t seen the usual group of international or national travelers, Bustamantre notes. “But really, we’ve been blessed because we have all these outdoor spaces and have been able to adapt to the needs of our mostly regional clientele. Throughout the summer we got Texans looking for a getaway vacation. Now we’re seeing guests from other states. We’ve even had some long term stays by Californians who are building houses in Austin.

    University of Texas fans also will host barbecues for UT football game watch parties on the lawns.

    The restaurant in the Mansion is headed by a husband-and-wife team of Bradley Nicholson and Susana Querejazu, veterans of some of Austin’s best restaurants including Uchi, Odd Duck, and Barley Swine. While the venue is reserved for hotel guests and members, but the hotel will soon open Luties (Edgar Perry’s wife’s name) at the front of the property on Red River to the public. Our preview revealed the same elevated design aesthetic as the rest of the property.

    An added flourish is the experiences and activations, from the daily bartender lessons in the patio, the customizable cocktail carts in each room, and even the three new Mercedes vehicles available for guests. “Take one to Fredericksburg for the day,” says Bustamante. “It’s all part of the Auberge experience.”

    -----

    Lonnie Schiller is a long-time Houston restaurateur who launched well-known names such as Cafe Express, Cafe Annie, and The Grove. He is also CultureMap’s founder and a restaurant and hospitality consultant.

    The Inn offers one- and two-bedroom suites.

    Commodore Perry Estate
      
    Photo by Douglas Friedman
    The Inn offers one- and two-bedroom suites.
    luxuryvacationhotels
    news/travel

    most read posts

    4 Houston chefs and restaurants are James Beard Award finalists

    Katy compound with custom chicken coop hits the market at $4.5 million

    A-list Houston crowd enjoys posh amenities at River Oaks tennis tournament

    wishlist destinations

    Secluded Texas treehouse is the most 'wishlisted' Airbnb property

    Amber Heckler
    Apr 4, 2025 | 10:13 am
    Ladonia Air Castle Treehouse Airbnb
    Photo courtesy of Airbnb
    The Air Castle Treehouse is only an hour and a half away from Dallas.

    Short term rental platform Airbnb has revealed its most wishlisted properties in the U.S., and an incredibly unusual North Texas treehouse has made the cut.

    The collection of highly sought after properties comes in anticipation for the summer travel season, where Airbnb says spontaneous and last-minute trips have only become more popular since 2022. The majority of the listings share one commonality: providing one-of-a-kind experiences.

    "For those seeking a nearby getaway this spring or summer, they can find one-of-a-kind experiences in their own backyards by exploring some of the most wishlisted listings across the 50 states," Airbnb said in a release. "The list showcases the diversity of preferences across the country, with stays that are perfect for every group, from family road trips to solo retreats."

    The "Air Castle Treehouse" in Ladonia, Texas was unveiled as the most sought after Texas listing. The property is located about 300 miles north of Houston, hidden among thick trees and surrounded by natural wildlife.

    Many children dream about living in a treehouse, and now travelers can appease their inner child when they explore the home. The treehouse was built using four shipping containers, and can accommodate up to four guests across two bedrooms and one bathroom.

    Ladonia Air Castle Treehouse AirbnbThe home was created using four shipping containers.Photo courtesy of Airbnb

    Guests can relax on any of the five balconies that boast breathtaking views of nature, including an abundance of wild animals. An exterior spiral staircase leads to the highest balcony of the home where visitors can set their sights on deer, wild hogs, armadillos, rabbits, bobcats, owls, red-tailed hawks, and much more.

    "The treehouse itself was beautifully designed, combining farmhouse rustic charm with modern amenities," a reviewer wrote. "It had cozy furnishings, a well-equipped kitchen, and comfortable beds. We enjoyed the large windows that let natural light flood in and allowed us to watch the squirrels, raccoons, possums, and birds feed from the hanging bird feeders."

    The third floor of the home contains a hot tub for the ultimate relaxation time, while the sixth floor shaded crows nest has a hammock to swing in that's 40 feet off the ground.

    Rates for the Air Castle Treehouse begin at $281 for a two-night stay in April, making it an ideal place for a romantic getaway or a fun summer trip.

    travelnorth texasairbnbvacationssummer vacation
    news/travel
    CULTUREMAP EMAILS ARE AWESOME
    Get Houston intel delivered daily.
    Loading...