STUFT SHIRT RESTAURANT

1960
Newport Beach, CA

“Stuft Shirt (Newport Beach) really helped put Ladd & Kelsey on the map early on.”

Wayne Thom, Architectural Photographer

The Stuft Shirt in Newport Beach was a result of the project site – at and into the waterfront – that drove its conditions and aesthetic. The exuberant waterfront structure reflects the casualness and joy of the California coastal lifestyle. It also elegantly links the land to the sea with its structure, an integrated, natural partner to the marina.

After construction, the boisterous interior design of the Stuft Shirt with crystal chandeliers, red velvet drapes and Austrian balloon sheers, as well as fleur-de-lis wallpaper was in stark contrast to the quiet elegance of the Ladd & Kelsey structure. After a later 13-year vacancy, in recent years the landmark building underwent an award-winning adaptive reuse into a high-end boutique, A’maree’s, by Paul Davis Architects. It is the winner of the 2011 Preservation Design Award for Historic Preservation by the California Preservation Foundation and has been widely featured in periodicals from Architectural Digest to Metropolis.

Today, nearly 60 years after the Stuft Shirt was built, a similar building would likely never be approved by the California Coastal Commission due to its proximity to the water. The Stuft Shirt is currently part of a multi-use redevelopment plan. The developer has expressed interest in preserving the building, while the project’s new structures will encircle the Stuft Shirt with a larger mid-rise building scale.