Dan Levy

Sunday, March 27, 2005

The Sonoma wine country is full of upscale hotels, but it hasn't seen anything quite like Les Mars.

The new 16-room inn, just off Healdsburg's town square, is built in the style of a French chateau and replaces what had been an auto parts store at North and Foss streets.

King-size beds with carved wooden canopies, overstuffed pillows, antique tables, marble bathroom floors and counters, walnut paneling, Flemish tapestries -- these are some of the touches found in the hotel's sumptuous guest rooms and public spaces.

"I always envisioned that I would have a small hotel that would be just like the ones I stayed in during my years in Europe," said David Mars, 67, a St. Louis developer who conceived of the project with his wife, Sarah.

However, Les Mars ups the ante from your basic European country inn.

David Mars spent $3.5 million to erect the hotel (the architect was John Picci of Santa Rosa) and an unspecified amount to furnish it.

For the interiors, he turned to San Francisco designer Helga Horner, who spent many months discussing design possibilities with the couple. The project took three years to complete.

"My intent was to make it very comfortable and approachable and maintain a high-end, luxury look," Horner said. "We wanted to set a tone of grandeur and refinement, but not have a stiff environment that says, 'Don't touch me.' "

The first-floor library, which is used as a breakfast room and for afternoon wine tasting, is adorned with elaborately carved walnut cabinets and designer fabrics.

Cyrus, a fine dining restaurant, is also on the ground floor, with its own entrance on North Street.

Guest rooms on the upper floors feature a mix of custom chairs, tables, chaise lounges and antiques, including hand-colored 19th century engravings. Bathrooms have handsome wooden commodes; some have bidets.

Room rates range from $495 to $995.

Les Mars joins the Hotel Healdsburg as the boutique entrants in the town's hotel market, but more affordable options such as the Dry Creek Inn and Healdsburg Inn also exist. Both are adding guest rooms.

David Mars got his hotel bug while working in the import-export business in Europe in the 1960s and 1970s. For the past 30 years, his Hedmark Co. has developed small restaurants, warehouses, outpatient surgical centers and day- care facilities in the St. Louis area.

Mars said he and his wife came to Northern California five years ago and initially wanted to build in Napa. But they found that region already filled up, so they looked to Healdsburg.

"It seemed like the city had a good program of trying to develop the town, " Mars said. "It's small and quaint, it has older Victorian homes and you can walk everywhere."

Will he try building a hotel elsewhere in the Bay Area?

"I need a rest and then I will consider it," Mars said. "This is special place. But at my age, who knows?"