Local hotel feted by Michelin

The Madrona in Healdsburg has been recognized on the MICHELIN Guide’s “10 Most Beautiful Hotels in California” for 2025, a design-focused list highlighting properties where setting and interiors are as significant as service and amenities. The hotel also holds Two MICHELIN Keys, the Guide’s award for exceptional stays.

An investor group led by designer Jay Jeffers acquired the eight-acre estate in early 2021 and closed it for extensive renovation of the 1881 mansion, carriage house, and historic bungalows. After approximately $6 million in work following an $8.6 million purchase, The Madrona reopened in April 2022 featuring Jeffers’ eclectic, Aesthetic-Movement-inspired interiors, contemporary art, and antique layers.

The property’s core is Paxton’s mansion: a three-story, Second Empire structure with mansard roof and Gothic dormers, completed in 1880–81 as the centerpiece of “Madrona Knoll Rancho.” The complex also includes a two-story carriage house, a pantry outbuilding, and a schoolhouse structure.

Banker and entrepreneur John A. Paxton, who built the mansion, commissioned a gravity-flow stone winery north of the residence in 1887 designed by renowned winery architect Hamden W. McIntyre. The structure collapsed during the 1906 earthquake and was never rebuilt, reflecting how that disaster reshaped wine history in Sonoma and Napa.

After family transitions, the estate changed hands to D. H. Botchford in 1918 and remained a private residence until 1981, when John Harry Muir converted it into a country inn. The site was added to the National Register of Historic Places on April 2, 1987, listed as the Madrona Knoll Rancho District.

Bill and Trudi Konrad purchased Madrona Manor in 1999, investing in the property and its fine-dining restaurant. Under executive chef Jesse Mallgren, the dining room earned and maintained a Michelin star across multiple editions, establishing the hotel’s modern reputation before its design renovation.

Jeffers’ team oversaw exterior and interior updates including a lighter facade, opened interiors, new European oak floors, and artisan details such as ceiling work by decorative painter Willem Racké and local craft collaborations. The result is a 24-room estate resembling a private home filled with collected objects rather than a themed hotel.

The restaurant transitioned from prix-fixe formality toward an all-day program. In 2023, Mallgren departed for Jordan Winery, and Patrick Tafoya was named executive chef.

The “Most Beautiful Hotels” recognition represents pure editorial judgment by the MICHELIN Hotels team; combined with Two Keys, it demonstrates the property delivers on both aesthetics and guest experience. For a landmark that originated as a Gilded Age retreat, survived the 1906 earthquake, reinvented itself as a country inn in 1981, gained a Michelin-starred restaurant, and reemerged with bold design in 2022, this recognition represents continuity: craft and character have defined the estate for nearly 150 years.