Welcome to Durham
Tobacco, baseball and Duke University. And that’s just what you already know about Durham.
The city has a reputation for being “up and coming” and continues to grow in new ways. First time visitors are often pleasantly surprised to find there’s even more to see and do. The city is an incubator for vibrant art and film communities and a historical charmer with architecture and festivals at every turn. It’s home to a world-class performing arts center, the Durham Bulls Athletic Park, and a maze of hiking and biking trails. Durham was also named the Tastiest Town in the South by Southern Living magazine, so there is no shortage of great local restaurants, food trucks, and bars.
Annual cultural events, such as the American Dance Festival (the most important modern dance festival in the country) and Full Frame Documentary Film Festival attract creative minds from across the country; while quirky happenings like the Art of Cool Fest (a jazz musical festival), are equally at home in the Bull City. As a cultural epicenter in Durham, 21c is where guests, artists, performers, thinkers, innovators, and locals alike congregate for culinary delights, thought-provoking artwork and a taste of the unique 21c experience. 21c encourages our guests to explore all our neighborhood has to offer.
Looking for a place to start? Get inspired with our Durham City Guide.
Explore 21c
At 21c, art is an unexpected encounter, a new idea, a starting point for lively conversation. It is around every corner — in the elevator lobbies, stairwells, on floors, suspended from ceilings, at the reception desk, and in Counting House’s dining rooms and bar. Installations flow onto the city sidewalk, engaging guests and passerby’s alike. 21c believes art can and should be part of daily life, rather than something that can only be seen on a planned trip to a formal institution.
During your visit, we invite you to discover and explore the exhibitions. The Museum is free and open to the public.
REFLECTING TRANSFORMATION: Site-Specific Art at 21c Durham
ASCENDANCE, ANDREW ERDOS
Ascendance consists of laser-cut mirror glass and a panoramic video loop that can be seen in cloud ‘windows’ cut into mirrors. Monitors embedded behind the mirrors show images of a vast land and skyscape in the Western United States. This saturated spectrum of cloud-filled color was photographed by artist Andrew Erdos on Navajo Indian reservations in Arizona, Utah, and New Mexico, where he focused his camera above rock formations considered culturally sacred.
Erdos’s installation transports this expansive outdoor world into the building, within a space whose material reflects visitors in the lobby as well as in the dramatic, shifting environment seen moving across the clouds. Visitors ascend physically on the elevator or the stairwell, and continue on a metaphoric, visual journey as they prepare to enter a reception lobby that serves as exhibition space for 21st-century art.
BUSBY’S SOUTHERN BELLES, BUSBY’S NIQABS, BUSBY’S PINK FLAMINGOS,
CLAIRE SHEGOG
Shegog transforms miniature female figurines typically used as confectionery decorations into a range of characters that evoke various cultures — the southern belle, the cloaked Muslim, the ballroom dancer — painting each one by hand and affixing hats, jewels, and other accessories.
Dozens of these are arranged in circular configurations on a reflective, metallic ‘canvas,’ creating a mesmerizing 3-dimensional play of light, color, and form. At 21c Durham, Shegog presents these on the horizontal surface of the reception table, rather than on the wall, allowing viewers to look down onto and into the fantastical worlds her tiny dancers inhabit.
BANK (UNSWEPT FLOOR SERIES), LESLIE LYONS AND JB WILSON
“Images of the $100 dollar bill in this work give a false sense of wealth as each bill contains the same serial number, while a singular $100,000 dollar bill—originally in circulation only between big banks—features a reproduction of Woodrow Wilson. Wilson signed the Federal Reserve Act of 1913, the legislation responsible for the current banking system in the US,” explain artists Leslie Lyons and JB Wilson, whose editioned porcelain tiles, BANK (Unswept Floor series), fills a portion of the floor in the basement level of the 21c Durham building. Installed inside the historic vault, BANK illustrates the transformation of the Hill building into 21c—from a single-purpose commercial space to a multi-use cultural center—as well as the evolution of the form and management of financial capital, from hard and paper currency safeguarded in stone skyscrapers by bankers to the ephemeral, digital files that are now maintained and exchanged through technology.
WHITE LIGHT, FUTURE RETRIEVAL, KATIE PARKER AND GUY MICHAEL DAVIS
Cincinnati-based artists Katie Parker and Guy Michael Davis, known as FUTURERETRIEVAL, have created eighteen chandeliers, grouped in six clusters, for the lounge at Counting House.
White porcelain busts of bear heads are adorned with porcelain collars; Yupo paper bunting cut into floral forms envelope the bear heads and link the chandeliers together and to the ceiling, transforming a portion of Counting House into a space of fantasy, where elements of nature, technology, and imagination are at play. “The whiteness of the porcelain bear heads and cut paper, combined with the white light of the neon are inspired by our fascination with Meissen porcelain,” say the artists, “specifically, with the large-scale animals sculpted by Johann Joachim
Kaendler, which were commissioned by Augustus the Strong in the 1730s for his porcelain menagerie in Dresden, Germany. The die cut paper references German cut-paper silhouettes; used in multiples to create the body of the bears, as well as large-scale bunting that connects these elements throughout the space. The bunting also replicates the porcelain Snow Ball sculpted by Kaendler for Meissen; Kaendler’s interest in making ordinary objects more luxurious is echoed in the transformation of forms and imagery in White Light, Bear. The bear head itself was created by scanning and enlarging a five-inch figurine of a honey bear crafted in the art deco style, which was the dominant aesthetic in the 1930s, when the Hill building was designed, and which is now being transformed into 21c Durham.”
IT WILL WARM YOU TWICE, DUKE RILEY
Decommissioning a commercial product, Duke Riley explores past, present, and future in It Will Warm You Twice. The cigarettes and mini cigars Riley utilized to create this large-scale mosaic reference the ubiquitous role that tobacco has played in the development and history of Durham, North Carolina, as well as the decline of its influence. Early 18th Century explorers to Durham called the area “the flower of the Carolinas;” the English colonists who first settled the area cleared and worked the very fertile land, most notably transforming the territory into the tobacco farms for which Durham became famous. Riley’s piece, created for 21c’s newest home in the Hill building, makes note of that shift in landscape from virgin forest to tobacco farms, and to the current cycle of reinvention, as this former shell of the Durham tobacco and banking industry is repurposed as a multi-use cultural center.
To learn more about the art exhibited at 21c, visit 21cMuseumHotels.com and follow us on social media at @21cHotels or #21cMuseumHotel.
Follow 21c Durham on Instagram
SUSTAINABILITY
We aim to have a positive impact on the planet by taking steps to reduce our carbon, plastic and food waste – to do that 21c has implemented a 21c Sustainability Fee of $2 to help support that mission. Examples of our sustainability practices include providing every guest with PATH water bottles. PATH is the first certified refillable and 100% recyclable bottled water packaged in a sleek and sturdy, reusable aluminum container.
Click to learn more about Ennismore and Accor sustainability initiatives, happening at our collection of hotels around the globe.
CHANNEL GUIDE
Channel Two
A video artwork channel available in the guest rooms, continuously showcasing a rotating selection of original video works from 21c Museum Hotel’s library.
In-room Guide
Prefer to stay in? Catch up on “the news” with our CABLE LINE UP.
2 21c Video Art 26 Disney 50 MTV
3 Weather Channel 27 Nickelodeon 51 Comedy Central
4 ABC 28 ABC Family 52 NBC Sports
5 NBC 29 Discovery 53 Fox Sports
6 CBS 30 AMC 54 Golf Channel
7 FOX 31 TLC 55 FOX Sports
8 CW HD 32 TBS 56 Cartoon Network
9 MyTV 33 BET 57 TruTV
10 HBO 34 Telemundo 58 NFL Network
11 HBO2 35 SyFy 59 Univision
12 Showtime 36 FX 60 PBS
13 Showtime 2 37 TNT
14 ESPN 38 USA
15 ESPN 2 39 A&E
16 ESPNU 40 Lifetime
17 ESPNews 41 Bravo
18 ESPN Classic 42 E!
19 CNN 43 Travel Channel
20 HLN 44 History
21 CNBC 45 Food Network
22 FOX News 46 HGTV
23 MSNBC 47 Animal Planet
24 Bloomberg 48 Science Channel
25 BBC America 49 National Geographic
Audiophiles rejoice! Your room is equipped with an ALARM CLOCK / DOCKING STATION.
Plug in and rock on! (If you need assistance with the docking station grab the nearest hipster tween or, in their absence, simply dial “0” from your in-room phone and our front desk team can happily assist.)
Need to make a call? Use your IN-ROOM PHONE for:
Voicemail: Press the voicemail button on the phone or dial 6363
Room to Room calls: 7 + Room Number
Local calls: Dial 9 + Number
Toll Free calls: Dial 9 + 1 + Number
Emergency calls: 9 +911
Wake Up calls: Press the Wake Up button and follow the prompts to set preferred time
Usage fees will apply for:
Long distance calls: Dial 9 + 1 + Area Code + Number
International calls: Dial 9 + 011 + Country Code + City Code + Number
21c Amenities
More than simply a place to spend the night, 21c is an authentic experience. If there is anything you need during your stay, please don’t hesitate to text us at 919.335.7660 or dial “0” from your guestroom phone. Our team is always ready to help and eager to make your visit as memorable and unique as 21c itself.
Traveling with a laptop? Your room is equipped with secure, Complimentary Wi-Fi. Consult your keycard sleeve or the front desk team for login information.
Valet Service is available 24/7 for hotel guests, with in and out privileges. Please text us or press the Valet button on your guest room phone to have your car brought around to our front drive. Please allow up to 25 minutes for us to deliver your vehicle.
During your stay, Laundry Service is available. Laundry bags and tickets are located in your guest room closet. For urgent requests, please contact the front desk for assistance.
Looking for a little something extra during your 21c stay? Our one- and two-night Packages kick things up a notch to help you get the most of your stay. Visit 21cDurham.com for our complete list of seasonal offerings.
An In-Room Safe is available for the security of any valuables. Please contact the front desk team if you need safe operation assistance.
Audiophiles rejoice! Your room is equipped with an Alarm Clock/Docking Station. Plug in and rock on! If you need assistance with the docking station, simply dial “0” from your in-room phone and our front desk team can happily assist.
Spa
Visit our Spa Menu for a list of current available offerings. Call 919.956.6700 or email us at Dur.Spa@21cHotels.com at least 48 hours in advance for appointments, and we’ll happily ensure your appointment is arranged.
21c Treats
Looking to indulge a special someone? Want to spark some romance during your own stay? Whatever the occasion, 21c Treats entice you to splurge a little.
Call or text the front desk for availability. Our team will hand deliver your Treat with a personalized note. Please order at least one hour before your desired delivery time.
Dining at 21c
COUNTING HOUSE
Led by Executive Chef Stephanie Klos, local cuisine meets bold flavors and playful execution at Counting House restaurant. A seafood-driven menu set amongst the art of today, designed to provide you with an easygoing escape that will feed your soul.
Taste innovative house cocktails, sip aperitifs, sample local craft brews, and explore broad bourbon, and wine lists in the dining room & lounge, or in your guestroom.
COUNTING HOUSE
Visit www.CountingHouseNC.com for most up to date information on restaurant hours.
Follow Counting House on Facebook
Follow Counting House on Instagram
21c Safety
SMOKING
To improve indoor air quality and for the health and safety of our guests and team, 21c IS A SMOKE-FREE HOTEL. Guests wishing to smoke can do so outside on the sidewalk along Corcoran Street. A fee of $250 will be assessed to any room in which signs or smells of smoking are found.
SAFETY & SECURITY
- Please refer to the map on the back of your room door to familiarize yourself with the nearest emergency exit.
- For the health and safety of all our guests and teammates, please regard all alarms as “the REAL thing.” Please stay calm and cooperate with our team while we work to ensure your safety.
- During alarms, please do not attempt to use the elevator. Make your way to the nearest stairwell and exit the building.
IN CASE OF FIRE
- If a fire breaks out in your room, immediately exit your room and close the door behind you to keep the hall clear of smoke and fire. Activate the nearest alarm pull station. Report the situation to the front desk team immediately.
- If a fire breaks out in another part of the building, you may be roused by the fire alarm signal, voice announcements over the PA system, shouting in the corridor, a phone call, or by the sound of sirens outside. Stay calm. Check your door for heat before opening.
- If hot, remain in the room and seal the door with wet towels and vent other openings. Alert the front desk immediately.
- If cool, exit the room immediately. Do not attempt to use the elevator. Please use the nearest stairwell to exit and wait for further instruction before returning to your room.
IN THE EVENT OF SEVERE WEATHER
The front desk team will keep up-to-date information on local conditions. Should evacuation of rooms become necessary, the front desk team will provide you with instructions on how to proceed.
IN THE EVENT OF A ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE
Lock yourself in the guestroom and defend yourself against the inevitable horde of zombies. Feel free to use any guestroom items and/or equipment to protect yourself; no damage fees are likely to occur.
IMPORTANT PHONE NUMBERS
Front Desk ………………………………………………………… Dial 0
Fire, Police, EMS ……………………………………………….. Dial 9 + 911
Suicide Crisis Lifeline …………………………………………. Dial 9 + 1.800.273.8255
National Drug & Poison Center …………………………….. Dial 9 + 1.800.222.1222
Duke Children’s Hospital …………………………………….. Dial 9 + 668.4000
Duke Regional Hospital ………………………………………. Dial 9 + 470.4000
Duke University Hospital ……………………………………… Dial 9 + 684.8111
