The Granville Inn bar and restaurant closed in January 2024 to give the grande dame of Granville a makeover for her 100-year anniversary celebrations, slated to begin in the spring. The inn, designed by prominent Ohio architect Frank Packard — who also created the plans for Bryn Du Mansion and the Granville Public Library — opened to wide acclaim in June 1924.
“The Granville Inn was built to be the centerpiece of the village,” says general manager Logan Chilton. The restaurant and bar will reopen on Feb. 2, 2024. In the interim, rooms remain open to overnight guests.
The Inn is partnering with local designer Megan Cuda of Cedar Grove Design & Co. on the updates inspired by the inn’s history and architecture.
“We want to make sure that everything that makes the Granville Inn so special, like the gorgeous walnut paneling, stays the way it is while we make it an even better experience for how people want to gather today,” Cuda says.
Cuda is incorporating a traditional color palette with added “pops of color” throughout the lobby, as well as the Tavern and Oak Room restaurants. “We want to pay homage to our past without being encumbered by it,” she says. The lobby’s flagstone floors will be restored to their original color, and club chairs will offer visitors a welcome place to enjoy conversation or a beverage by the fire.
In the Tavern, new seating and tables, including comfortable lounge chairs and a community table by the fire, will provide flexible seating for groups of all sizes. “We want the Tavern to be a place for friends to gather and hang out,” Chilton says. “The kind of place you go to have a bite to eat and catch up on email, then meet a friend at the end of the day and end up staying for the evening.”
The Oak Room will also feature new tables and seating, including a new banquette along the long stone wall facing the patio. Diners in the Oak Room will experience exceptional food and service, Chilton says. ”We want the Oak Room to feel intimate and unique — a place you go for special celebrations with friends and loved ones.”
When the doors reopen in February, don’t expect to see all the updates in place, Chilton says. The wood and stone floors will be cleaned and refinished, and carpeting will be replaced in the Tavern’s alcove and the Oak Room, but shipping has delayed some of the furniture.
Chilton is confident the new tables, chairs, and lighting will be in place before the June anniversary. “We’re looking forward to planning something really special,” he says, “and inviting the entire community to celebrate with us.”