Luxury Hotels Atlas / Places / United States / Houston / The Marlene
The Marlene
Houston, Texas, United States · Independent · Accessible Luxury
Lily Barfield opened nine rooms in June 2025 inside the John S. Stewart House at 109 Stratford, the neoclassical mansion Harry Tschopik pulled a permit for in June 1910 and sold the next September to John S. Stewart Sr., whose family kept it for 33 years. She named the inn for her grandmother, and City Council had already made the house a protected landmark in December 2024. Bar Madonna is built around a nine-foot Virgin Mary panel she brought from France, with a wine list that is entirely French.
- 9 rooms
- Opened 2025
- Neighborhood: Montrose
- Interiors: Lily Barfield
About The Marlene
- George H. Fruehling of Penn and Fruehling is the designer the city landmark study associates with 109 Stratford. He and Tschopik later worked in Los Angeles, including on the Blair Estate.
- Rooms take the names of women in Barfield's family. She calls the Nanette the best in the house: the second-floor porch, heated bathroom floors, and a bar hidden behind a plain wall.
- White and blue mosaic tiles spell The Marlene on the front steps. Most of the furniture came from buying trips in the south of France, with gaps filled at Round Top and River Oaks.
- Tom Hardy, previously with Navy Blue and with Perseid at Hotel Saint Augustine, runs Bar Madonna. The Southeastern is a gin cocktail finished with crawfish seasoning.
History
The John S. Stewart House at 109 Stratford is a neoclassical residence in Avondale. Harry S. Tschopik, a New Orleans manufacturer, took a building permit in June 1910. He sold the house in September 1911 to John S. Stewart Sr., and the Stewart family stayed 33 years. The landmark study associates the design with George H. Fruehling of Penn and Fruehling. Houston's Archaeological and Historical Commission forwarded a protected-landmark nomination in September 2024, and City Council approved it that December. Lily Barfield, a dealer in French antiques, opened nine rooms as The Marlene on the last weekend of June 2025 and named the house for her grandmother. Bar Madonna takes its name from a nine-foot painted panel of the Virgin Mary that she brought from France. The house had already been an antique shop and a bed-and-breakfast before this opening.
The setting
109 Stratford Street sits in the Avondale East Historic District, the 1999 city district inside Montrose, a short walk from Westheimer. Harry's Breakfast and Lunch is nearby on the same street. Avondale is the old Shakespeare-named subdivision.
Restaurants and bars
- Bar Madonna — Bar
Amenities
- Wine garden
Open The Marlene in the atlas for live weekend rates, photos, and the full folio.
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