Some designers build spaces. Others listen to them.
The Oviatt is currently undergoing a thoughtful restoration shaped by care, intention, and respect for the space. As this next chapter begins, we are honored to introduce the interior designer leading the penthouse restoration, Adam Greco.
Adam is the founder of Greco Deco, established in 2017 with a clear philosophy: Historic spaces are not meant to be frozen in time or precisely replicated. They are meant to feel remembered, romantic, immersive, and layered with references that span eras and cultures.
Greco Deco’s work has been internationally recognized by publications including Elle Decor, The World of Interiors, Vogue, and Forbes. It is the sensitivity to history and emotion, paired with a thoughtful forward-looking design approach, that makes Adam the right choice to lead The Oviatt’s restoration.
A Serendipitous Beginning
This restoration, though long envisioned by Olive and Grand, began not with a formal pitch. It began with an email.
Adam happened to be in Los Angeles working on another project just down the street; drawn by curiosity and a shared love for Art Deco, he reached out. Asked simply if he might visit the space, and the moment he stepped into the penthouse, something clicked.
Gabe Sobol, founder of Olive & Grand, the team that manages The Oviatt as an event venue, noticed it right away. Adam wasn’t just visiting the space—he was already connecting with it.
Within months, Adam presented a vision, and soon after, he was leading the restoration.
Designing with Memory
Adam’s philosophy is particularly suited to a space like The Oviatt. A landmark rich with Art Deco architecture, carved plaster details, original woodwork, and furniture that carries nearly a century of stories.
Rather than attempting to “return” the penthouse to a single moment in time, Adam approaches the project as a layered narrative. His goal is not precision reproduction, but emotional accuracy.
This mindset guides every decision: what to restore, what to refresh, and what to gently reimagine.
The Restoration, in Thoughtful Phases
As with any historic venue, restoration is a careful, multi-year process. One that unfolds intentionally rather than on a rigid timeline.
A significant phase of the project is currently underway, with major investments focused on:
Refurbishing original furniture
Restoring carved plaster details in the iconic Art Deco bathroom
Repairing and refinishing original woodwork, including the powder room, bar, bed, and nightstands.
Introducing new paint and custom window treatments that respect the original architecture
This work marks an important chapter, with the broader restoration continuing gradually toward 2028, the centennial anniversary of The Oviatt building.
The aim throughout remains consistent: to breathe new life into the space while remaining loyal to its soul.
Sommerro, Oslo - Greco Deco - Project Featured on The Company's Website
In Conversation with
Adam Greco
What personal inspirations guide your work when you begin a project like The Oviatt?
Well, we try not to project too much of ourselves onto our projects, but I think it's unavoidable; we are creative after all. I think for this and all of our projects, it's the sheer love and passion for history, the particular style, the craftsmanship. We are constantly in awe of how carefully the stars must align for these spaces to have been created in the past and to survive all of these decades. This is very much a guiding light - to sort of pick up where things have left off and dive into it and take care of it and make it into something new. It's an incredible privilege to be entrusted with that, and that feels very personal to us.
Your work often lives between memory and imagination. How did that philosophy guide your approach to this project?
While History is a totem for us, it is twinned with Romanticism, and these two concepts can be at odds with one another, and that's where I think we excel in creating the right balance between the two. While we are not old enough to remember the Art Deco period in its heyday, I think we have cultural memories that have filtered down over the decades through cinema, music, art etc... and this is where we tap into memory. The periods become something else over time, especially with Art Deco - see this now as a distinct style, but at the time of the great Exhibition in 1925, this was really just an expression of modernism/contemporary taste. Paying attention to how things evolve over time, whether by a space aging or our interpretations being altered by decades of culture, is something to think about.
Art Deco is such a strong architectural language. How do you engage with it without overpowering it?
It really is quite a strong language, rooted in emerging technologies of the time in global travel and communications. We have been lucky enough to work on reimaging interiors from this period and style in Norway, the UK, and now Los Angeles, and we have become sensitive to the various regional expressions of the style and how they differ. The Penthouse interior has a particularly French flavor to it, given the collaboration between Oviatt's Architect, Joseph Fiel, with Parisian firms Lalique and Sadier. Our scope is really defined by filling in the blanks, carefully replacing finishes and decorative items to complement and enhance the overall envelope.
Bar Next Door, Los Angeles | Villa Inkognito, Oslo | Greco Deco Projects Featured om The Company's Website
What excites you most about restoring a historic venue rather than designing something entirely new?
Going back to what I said before, it is a true privilege to be entrusted with such a unique and special piece of history. The space has had many lives, and there is an element of newness in what we are doing, in the sense that we are getting it ready for the next twenty years. I think what is so interesting about doing these types of projects is what we can learn from the existing interior -and divining what some of the original intentions were and trying to keep that in mind when making new decisions - a sort of reading of the tea leaves. There's a certain mystical quality to it, communicating with the past, and being confronted at points with our own interpretations and ideas and ways to improve it.
As this restoration continues, what do you hope guests will feel when they enter the space?
We are very much gilding the lily here - it is such an incredibly special interior, and there is nothing like it in LA, especially at this intimate scale. I think that our tweaks and additions will certainly enhance the overall experience. The venue is primarily a setting for Weddings, and we keep this in mind in terms of the color palette, textures, lighting, etc., and we intend for guests to not only be dazzled by the beauty of the interior but to feel more beautiful themselves than they have ever felt.
Is there anything about this project or process you’d love to share that people might not expect?
There are so many naughty little tidbits that we have learned from the Owner, Gabe, and from the Historian, March Chevallier, as to the kind of fun James Oviatt had in the space, and hidden little design features for these kinds of things... I think they would be better suited at telling those! We continue to learn from history and have so far been able to replicate the bedroom wall fabric that we have studied via archival photographs of the interior from 1930. This was an overall floral pattern in the French Art Deco style, and while no fragments survived, we had enough photographs to replicate the pattern exactly. Since the photos were all black & white, we had the opportunity to invent our own color scheme - a range of metallics from pewter to bronze to antique gold, complementing the scheme of the Living Room. This was drawn by us by hand and silkscreen printed at a trusted workshop in Brookly, New York. We are really happy with how this turned out.
The Ned, London | Sommerro, Oslo | Veronika, New York | Greco Deco Projects Featured om The Company's Website
Looking Ahead
Restoration is never about erasing time. It’s about honoring it.
Under Adam’s guidance, The Oviatt’s penthouse is now being carefully reawakened. Each decision is made with reverence, curiosity, and a deep respect for what already exists. Allowing the space to feel both familiar and newly alive.
This is a story that will continue to unfold, one thoughtful layer at a time.
We’ll be sharing thoughtful updates as the project continues. Sign up for our newsletter to follow along as The Oviatt’s next chapter unfolds.
