The old Mount Vernon Stable & Saloon is now an event venue for the Hotel Ulysses

A restaurant that was a Mount Vernon community staple before it closed during the COVID-19 pandemic has been repurposed as an event venue.

ASH NYC, the New York-based developer of the Hotel Ulysses, said Thursday that it has remodeled the former Mount Vernon Stable & Saloon into a private event space called Swann House. The neighboring Ulysses will also use the venue at 909 N. Charles St. as a clubhouse for occasional events that are open to the public, the hotelier said.

The building, a historic rowhouse that once housed Baltimore Mayor Ferdinand Claiborne Latrobe, was a restaurant for more than 35 years before the pandemic shut its doors. An entity connected to ASH bought the building for $682,000 in 2022, property records show.

The hotel company originally planned to open a new dining spot within the space: ASH’s attorney told the city liquor board in 2022 that it would become a “relatively quiet establishment with just a restaurant and a bar.” Corey Polyoka, formerly of chef Spike Gjerde’s Foodshed group, was previously linked to the project.

Instead, the 1,100-square-foot Swann House, which opened for bookings Thursday, will be used as a ballroom and banquet hall with capacity for 85 people standing or 45 seated. A makeover by the hotelier’s creative director, Xavier Donnelly, gives the effect of “an opulent ground floor parlor or an old brownstone,” according to a news release.

The Saloon’s interior has been transformed with dark wood paneling, muslin drapes and wall sconces. The building’s original plaster walls and marble fireplaces were preserved as a nod to its history. The venue’s name points to the past, too: Latrobe’s wife was Louisa Sherlock Swann, and the couple had a son named Swann.

“My goal for Swann House was to create an opulent entertaining space that’s still timeless,” Donnelly said in a statement. “It feels like it’s always been here, but still attuned to the world around it – playing off the nuances of its surroundings from the architecture of the city to Ulysses next door. In other words, the perfect setting for unforgettable parties.”

The venue is the latest in the buzzy Hotel Ulysses’ food, beverage and entertainment portfolio, which also includes Bloom’s, Ash Bar and The Coral Wig.