The Washington Duke Inn & Golf Club on the campus of Duke University announces the completion of a redesign of its award-winning Fairview Dining Room with a new ambience and stylish décor.

While the desire for gourmet cuisine is holding strong, today’s restaurant patrons are leaning toward more relaxed dining environments. Keeping in stride with the dining culture, the award-winning cuisine of the Fairview Dining Room can now be enjoyed in a sophisticated casual atmosphere with the same exceptional level of service, grace, and style.  

The Inn selected Richmond, Virginia–based Glavé & Holmes Architecture, a nationally recognized architecture, interior design, and planning firm, for the redesign project.

The elegant updates include the addition of six new bespoke curved booth arrangements, new tables, chairs, and accent pieces. Done in a tufted pattern, the booths are by New England Seating and feature DesignTex Sorano Navy and KravetSmart’s Adelbert upholstery in traditional navy with blue, gold, and a hint of red stripes.

The design team also selected robust new chairs with dark cherry finished arms and legs from the St. Timothy Chair Company’s 2012 collection and upholstered them in one of the world’s finest fabrics: Robert Allen’s Nelliecoyne in Prussian blue and gold accented with brass-nail trim.

Accompanying the new seating are cherry top tables with a classic ogee edge, which diners will now enjoy without formal linen tablecloths. The dining room is further accented with framed vintage Wedgwood china pieces from the Duke family collection.

There are also four large mirrors, each concealing a flat-screen TV that’s stealth in appearance to the dining room’s guests except when viewing a Duke men’s basketball game and other major sporting events.

As part of the dining room’s redesign, the wait staff’s uniforms were matched to the ambience with black slacks, a white button-down shirt, and a Duke blue and white tie topped off with a three-quarter white apron.

Glavé & Holmes focused on the functional needs of the Fairview Dining Room by analyzing how guests interact and enjoy the dining space and its views of the Inn’s golf course.

The designers harmonized the space to fit the restaurant’s dining experiences, which range from a casual lunch or dinner to a quiet place for business meals and romantic dinners to special holidays and occasions in guests’ lives.

Glavé & Holmes’ 20 years of experience with world-class hotels, resorts, and dining rooms allowed them to give guests a renewed place that’s memorable, uplifting, and warm, while still characteristic of the Fairview Dining Room.

Meticulous attention given to every detail was critical to the immediate and gracious sense of welcome, and to a continuing experience of quality, ease, and delight that the Washington Duke Inn & Golf Club’s guests expect from this world-class resort.  

“Refining the restaurant now is in line with what restaurant patrons want when dining out today,” says Don Ball, director of food and beverage at the Washington Duke Inn & Golf Club. “The new sophisticated-casual look is welcoming, inviting, and airy and will most certainly appeal to a broader range of diners as executive chef Jason Cunningham and his team continue to present award-winning cuisine.”

The completion of the Fairview Dining Room’s redesign and concept change is timed with other enhancements recently completed at the Washington Duke Inn & Golf Club that continue to focus upon and enrich the guests’ experience.

The Fairview Dining Room receives high marks locally, regionally, and nationally for its seasonally inspired contemporary cuisine, exceptional service, extensive wine list, and superb views overlooking the prestigious Robert Trent Jones–designed Duke University Golf Club.

Executive chef Jason Cunningham leads the staff creating the restaurant’s AAA Four Diamond Award–winning fare. The Fairview Dining Room offers a varied collection of French, Italian, and American wines, and is recognized annually by the Wine Spectator’s Award of Excellence.