During years spent ski racing in Europe, restaurateur Phillips Armstrong enjoyed the commonplace lodging concept of a restaurant with rooms. “It’s not a boutique hotel, but simply a great restaurant that happens to have four to six rooms for overnight guests,” he says. Determined to introduce the model stateside, he set off on a search for the perfect property—and found it on Breckenridge’s Main Street. Working with Allen Guerra Architecture and Raw Creative, he transformed a dilapidated building into The Carlin.
There, three floors offer distinctly designed realms: an underground tavern finished in moody green tones, a main-floor restaurant featuring a raw bar with a cool, coastal ambience, and four top-floor guest suites imagined by designers Karen Fischer and Courtney Sheldon to capture the cozy comfort of a Swiss chalet.
With their sleek, upholstered platform beds and wood-plank walls, these new accommodations have a vibe that’s distinctly European, but front-and-center views of Breckenridge’s dramatic peaks root The Carlin firmly in Colorado.
