Doesn’t She Look Terrific For 140: Go Inside Austin’s Century-Plus Love Affair With Texas Luxury To See How The Driskill Hotel Was Recently Reborn

The Landmark Restoration Celebrates 140 Years Of Politics, Romance, Hospitality, And Timeless Texas Elegance While Ushering Austin’s Most Iconic Hotel Into A Dazzling New Era

Photography courtesy of The Driskill Hotel

There is a particular kind of hush that falls over guests the moment they step beneath The Driskill’s grand archway on the corner of 6th and Brazos. It’s the sound of history settling into the present tense. For 140 years, this Romanesque Revival landmark has presided over downtown Austin like a favorite great-aunt who’s seen everything: election nights, oil booms, ghost stories, governors’ balls… and is only getting more magnetic with age. Following a sweeping multi-phase renovation completed by Pixiu Investments, Woodbine Development, and Hyatt Hotels Corporation, The Driskill enters its next chapter sharper, warmer, and more itself than ever, according to our inveterate traveler, Cynthia Smoot.

A Cattleman’s Gamble That Built A Capital City’s Soul

The Driskill’s origin story reads like a Texas tall tale, mostly because it is one. Colonel Jesse Lincoln Driskill, a Tennessee-born cattle baron who’d made and lost fortunes selling beef to Confederate troops and Texas Rangers, set his sights in 1884 on building “the finest hotel south of St. Louis.” He bought a city block at Brazos and Pecan for $7,500 and commissioned local architect Jasper N. Preston to design a limestone-and-brick palace that would put Austin on the map as a city of consequence, not just a dusty capital outpost.

The Driskill opened on December 20, 1886, to genuine fanfare, with electric lighting and steam heat that felt impossibly modern for its era. Less than two weeks later, it hosted its first gubernatorial inaugural ball, a tradition that has continued, in one form or another, ever since. But Driskill’s own triumph was short-lived. A brutal winter and drought decimated his cattle herds, and within two years, he was forced to sell the hotel that bore his name. He died in 1890, never seeing the empire he’d built reach its full stature, which may explain why, depending on which Austin local you ask, his spirit is still said to wander the lobby in a faint cloud of cigar smoke, occasionally asking startled staff for a light.

Ghost stories aside, what’s undeniably true is that The Driskill Hotel became Austin’s social and political nucleus almost immediately and has stayed there. Cattle ranchers, oil tycoons, legislators, and lobbyists filled its billiard rooms and skylit dining halls, which for years counted as the most elegant restaurant in the entire city. The original sixty rooms were steam-heated and electrically lit, astonishing luxuries for a Texas hotel in 1886, and by 1923 the property had already been remodeled once, expanding to 125 rooms before a fifteen-story tower annex opened in 1930. That same year, the hotel installed eight ornate mirrors once owned by Carlota, Empress of Mexico, in what’s now known as the Maximilian Room.

The Driskill’s political pedigree runs just as deep. In 1934, a young congressional secretary named Lyndon Baines Johnson met a schoolteacher named Claudia “Lady Bird” Taylor at the hotel, a chance meeting that would shape American political history. LBJ later used The Driskill as his unofficial campaign headquarters, watching election returns roll in there during both his pivotal 1948 Senate race and his 1964 presidential run, and the hotel served as command central for swarms of journalists and broadcast reporters throughout his administration. The University of Texas has its own footnotes here, too: in the early twentieth century, regents and alumni leaders hashed out disputes over funding for the school’s new football stadium inside the hotel’s meeting rooms, and for generations, The Driskill Hotel ballrooms hosted university dances, receptions, and ceremonies alongside the governors’ galas. By the 1920s, the building had nearly been demolished; it survived more than a dozen fires and several near-collapses amid ownership changes, saved and restored again and again by Austinites who refused to let it go.

A Renovation Worthy Of The Legacy

That same protective instinct guided the property’s newest transformation, its most comprehensive in decades. Led by Dallas-based design firm SWOON, the Studio, alongside Lambert McGuire Design and architect of record Clayton Korte, is overseeing the renovation, which reintroduces 189 rooms and suites across two distinct design languages that mirror the hotel’s layered history.

The 1929 Tower Rooms lean toward the refined and contemporary: blue-gray walls, monogrammed navy-and-slate carpeting, burnished brass hardware, and red velvet drapery, anchored by a custom headboard from Austin’s Fort Lonesome, embroidered with motifs of native Texas flora and fauna. Down the hall, the original historic guest rooms, including the Heritage Suite once favored by LBJ, take a softer approach, with creamy whites, bone-toned paneling echoing the building’s original plasterwork, and vintage-inspired lighting that feels lifted from a more romantic century. “Our goal was to celebrate the grandeur and romance of the hotel’s 19th-century origins through a warmer, more traditional lens,” says Samantha Sano, founder of SWOON.

No stranger to media attention, The Driskill Hotel housed the then-new KTBS/CBS, which signed on as the first television station in Austin in 1952, hosted the annual Thanksgiving Day UT-TAMU football game, and the esteemed Headliner’s Club, which called the property home for decades in the 20^th century.

The lobby and grand staircase, long dubbed “Austin’s living room,” have been fully restored as the property’s beating heart, with a curated historic archive opening later this year to chronicle the hotel’s decades of triumphs and near-misses. And for gatherings, the showstopper is the new 2,800-square-foot Citadel Ballroom, built into a space that once operated as a private club with a secret entrance used to smuggle liquor during Prohibition. Accented in warm golds, it now hosts up to 200 guests for the kind of occasions Austin has always trusted The Driskill to handle: weddings, galas, milestone birthdays, and the city’s enduring tradition of toasting big news in a room with real history baked into the walls.

The culinary program received an equally serious upgrade through a partnership with Austin-based MML Hospitality. Chef April Bloomfield, celebrated for redefining modern British cooking in New York, makes her Southern restaurant debut here, working alongside Executive Chef Nick Erven at the reimagined Driskill Grill and Bar, where dry-aged Texas beef and classic martinis meet unlacquered brass and walnut burl paneling. Downstairs, The Victorian channels Old West saloon energy into a two-story cocktail den with a mahogany, cowhide-inlaid bar and a mezzanine for pool and cards, while the beloved 1886 Café & Bakery gets a refresh with pastries from MML’s Swedish Hill bakery. Historically, The Driskill’s restaurant was home to Texas culinary legend Helen Corbitt before she joined Neiman Marcus’ Zodiac room, revolutionizing Texas cuisine along the way.

The Smartest Stay In Austin, Especially For Longhorn Weekends

For travelers drawn to Texas history and old-world luxury, The Driskill remains unmatched; it’s not a hotel built to evoke Austin’s past; it is Austin’s past, still operating, still gathering the city’s notable and curious under one roof, and still serving as the backdrop for the kind of nights guests talk about for years. That historic pedigree is precisely what separates it from Austin’s newer luxury entries: a stay here comes with built-in stories, from cigar-smoke legends to presidential courtship, that no amount of fresh paint can manufacture.

That same downtown perch also makes it a remarkably strategic choice for anyone visiting the University of Texas for football games or to visit their kids attending the University. The hotel sits roughly a mile from the Forty Acres, the UT Tower, and the LBJ Presidential Library, with the Texas Capitol and the live-music churn of 6th Street just outside the front doors. Parents in town for freshman move-in or Family Weekend, alumni returning for a reunion or commencement, and fans rolling into the capital for a Longhorn home game can settle into genuine Texas grandeur at night and still be an easy walk or short ride-share from the stadium roar, the orange-and-white tailgates, and campus traditions the next morning. Few hotels in Austin let a Longhorn family bookend a game day with both a tour of the Forty Acres and a nightcap in a 19th-century bar; The Driskill Hotel does, without breaking stride.

One hundred forty years on, the math is simple: the cattle baron lost his hotel, but Austin never let go of his dream. The Driskill’s newest era proves that some addresses don’t just survive a city’s history; they help write it.

10 Reasons The Driskill Hotel Remains Austin’s Most Iconic Luxury Hotel

1. Celebrating 140 Years Of Texas History – Few hotels in America have remained continuously woven into a city’s identity for nearly a century and a half.
2. A Stunning Multi-Phase Restoration – Thoughtfully renovated guestrooms, suites, public spaces, and ballrooms honor the hotel’s Victorian roots while embracing contemporary comfort.
3. The Birthplace Of Texas Political History – Governors, legislators, Lyndon B. Johnson, and generations of political leaders have shaped history within its walls.
4. Legendary Design Details – From Carlota’s historic mirrors to Fort Lonesome’s custom embroidery, every room celebrates authentic Texas craftsmanship.
5. Exceptional New Dining Experiences – MML Hospitality, Chef April Bloomfield, and Executive Chef Nick Erven have elevated the culinary program without losing its Texas soul.
6. Austin’s Most Elegant Event Destination – Weddings, galas, milestone celebrations, and corporate gatherings now enjoy the spectacular new Citadel Ballroom.
7. Perfect For Longhorn Weekends – Located minutes from the University of Texas, the hotel is ideal for football games, Family Weekend, commencement, and alumni reunions.
8. Rich In Legends And Lore – Ghost stories, presidential romances, Prohibition secrets, and colorful Texas characters add unmatched personality.
9. Downtown At Your Doorstep – The Capitol, Sixth Street, live music, museums, restaurants, and Austin’s cultural landmarks are all within easy reach.
10. Luxury That Can’t Be Replicated – New hotels can offer modern amenities, but only The Driskill delivers 140 years of authentic Texas stories alongside five-star hospitality.