RH Palo Alto Debuts

RH (Corte Madera, Calif.) has taken the wraps off the RH Palo Alto, The Gallery at Stanford in California. The 55,000-square-foot, three-level space features a glass-encased rooftop restaurant, wine bar and park, interior design studio and installations of RH interiors, contemporary, modern and outdoor collections.

“RH Palo Alto reflects our commitment to creating architecturally inspiring and immersive spaces that blur the lines between residential and retail, indoors and outdoors, home and hospitality,” said Chairman and CEO Gary Friedman. “Spaces that activate all our senses, and spaces that cannot be replicated online. We are thrilled to be part of the energy and invention that continues to define the Silicon Valley community, and we are proud to add this Gallery to our hometown portfolio.”

Conceptualized as a transparent, multilevel contemporary structure, the new-build gallery features a parchment-cream Venetian plaster exterior with an expanse of glass-and-steel French doors that open onto garden courtyards and terraces surrounded by 100-year-old heritage olive trees.

Visitors can ascend a grand champagne double-floating staircase to the third level, which is home to a skylit garden, an atrium with heritage olive trees, chandeliers and a cascading center fountain sculpted of solid Biancone limestone.

The stair is flanked by a pair of cascading water walls of Italian limestone inspired by the fountain in New York City’s Paley Park, and an adjacent wine bar serves Champagnes and wines, including limited-production offerings from Napa Valley’s small vintners.

On the second level, guests will encounter RH Collections by internationally acclaimed designers, as well as the RH Interior Design Studio. On the main level, visitors pass through a 25-foot threshold of retractable glass-and-steel doors that lead to a central hall with 13-foot ceilings and natural light emanating from a skylight above.

Along the periphery, barrel-vaulted passageways lead to a classical arrangement of rooms integrating the brand’s assortment of furnishings, lighting and décor with one-of-a-kind antiques and artifacts from Friedman’s world travels.

In its coverage of the new complex, The Mercury News of San Jose noted that this is the company’s fourth Bay Area gallery (the others are in San Francisco, Yountville and Marin), and its first in Silicon Valley. The new gallery replaces the longtime RH store on nearby University Avenue, which closed last week, the newspaper reported.