At Home: The 5-Star Hotelier: David Pisor

By LISA SKOLNIK

DAVID PISOR
CEO, Elysian Hotels & Resorts

What’s New: He recently purchased Aspen’s iconic, historical Hotel Jerome with a group of partners.

Home: 5,600-square-foot, three story Bucktown house on 2.5 city lots that has traditional bones and transitional furnishings.

Pisor will be in an unusual position when his Elysian Hotel opens in the Gold Coast in November 2008. “Most five-star hotels aren’t run by owner-operators. Guests will benefit from our ability to do whatever it takes ... without any interference ... to make this property intimate and luxurious,” he maintains. It’s a claim he and his wife, Hilary, make good on in their own home, where comfort and closeness envelop and bond the whole family. “We have a huge fireplace in the kitchen, cook together whenever we can and eat dinner together every night,” says Hilary. The hearth was inspired by Pisor’s aunt, renowned Bay-area chef Alice Waters. But their closeness only starts at the dinner table. “The kids’ bedrooms are all on the same floor as ours, and we have a bathtub and shower that holds all six of us,” says David.

Published by Chicago Tribune Magazine