Effortless and calming. Luxurious but never pretentious. This is how Chad Dorsey talks about his projects, but Dallas’s most prolific architect and interior designer could just as easily be talking about himself. His lilting Eastern Tennessee drawl is indeed effortless and calming, putting anyone who comes into contact with him instantly at ease. And his design ethos—“relaxed luxury,” as he succinctly puts it—is a true manifestation of his own personal style: crisp and tailored, unfussy yet perfectly polished.
Dorsey may literally wear his good taste on his sleeve, but his affinity for architecture and design was apparent long before his luxurious residences were gracing the pages of Elle Decor and Architectural Digest. “I grew up drawing floor plans when I was five,” he says with a laugh. “I have always loved the art of how things function and go together.”
This natural-born talent led him down a circuitous path to the monumental career he now enjoys. He trained as an architect—an obvious choice given his unusual childhood pastime—and immediately out of school began designing large-scale sports arenas and stadiums. “It was very interesting for a few years,” he says, “but I decided I wanted to do something different.”
Entrance gallery at Primland, Auberge Resorts Collection designed by Dorsey
If logic and planning had gotten him this far, it was passion that led him next to Dallas, where he cut his teeth in the world of interiors, working for some of the city’s top firms in corporate architecture and hospitality design, while flipping houses with a partner in his spare time. Eventually, that side hustle blossomed beyond all expectation, and in 2012 Chad Dorsey Design was born.
True to form, Dorsey’s projects, though widely divergent, always carry an air of effortless grace, whether an art collector’s gallery-like abode, a sophisticated Hamptons-inspired estate, or his own former home, a sun-soaked Dallas retreat à la Malibu that he lovingly dubbed “The Surf Shack.” His Velasco Residence is especially representative of his style, with its handmade-brick façade, romantic Spanish tiles, and grand archways complemented by interiors filled with natural woods, Arabescato marble, and custom furnishings like an exquisite cerused oak table with brass legs designed by Dorsey himself.
Of course, effortless does not mean simple or easy. Quite the contrary, Dorsey’s projects are possible only through the marriage of his meticulous architect’s training and his passionate designer’s eye—not to mention his Southern charm, which he uses to draw out the wants and desires of his clients. He’s a triple threat, the rare talent that can draw up the plans, dress up the insides down the smallest detail, and convey it all through rose-colored glasses for even the most demanding clientele.
Photo by Cody Ulrich.
In one of Dorsey’s residential home projects, the kitchen exudes the “relaxed luxury” for which the architect and designer is known.
That definitive point of view was the basis for a deep connection with one of Dorsey’s most recent projects: Primland, Auberge Resorts Collection’s sprawling property in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, where he was tasked with reimagining the public spaces and signature restaurant and designing the first luxury residence on property, Hawk Eye.
It was a homecoming of sorts for the Tennessean turned Texan. “I grew up two and a half hours from there. I know what the region is like, and I’ve been there a lot over my lifetime,” he says. “It’s thousands of acres with incredible views, and the architecture is a beautiful Southern vernacular. It sits on top of a picturesque mountain. It’s very remote. That’s part of the enjoyment of being there.”
Naturally, Primland’s singular setting was an inspiration. Looking as much to the region’s natural beauty and inherent charm as to his own roots in the area, he envisioned an elevated Southern Virginia inn: American quilts and curated antiques blended with Pierre Frey wallcoverings and custom furnishings; roaring fireplaces with hand-carved wooden mantels and walls covered in bookshelves and local artworks.
In the resort’s redefined signature restaurant, Leatherflower, Dorsey expressed the culinary culture of Southern Appalachia with a touch of French bistro flair via rustic exposed beams and floral grass-cloth wallcoverings. Meanwhile, the property’s newest accommodation and first luxury residence, Hawk Eye, was the project’s coup de grâce, with six bedrooms, a gourmet kitchen, and a dramatic floor-to-ceiling glass A-frame window overlooking the serene surroundings Dorsey knows so intimately.
Lately, Dorsey has been both expanding and fine-tuning his skills. His designer’s eye has recently been trained on the heart of the home: the fireplace. In early 2024, he launched STRIKE 2.0, his second collection of bespoke sculptural stone fireplaces, available through luxury tile atelier Ann Sacks. And on the other end of the spectrum? His biggest project to date: designing the 48 residences at The Knox, Auberge Resorts Collection’s new luxury hotel and private residences in Dallas’s vibrant Knox district.
Dorsey often incorporates wood and stone into his work. Those natural elements, “plus metal, come together to create details and furnishings we design for our spaces.”
Expanding his relaxed luxury aesthetic to a whole new scale is a dream gig, says Dorsey—and one deserving of his best work yet. There will be chef’s kitchens and “Texas-size bars” for entertaining; plank oak floors and varnished brass hardware; and panoramic views over some of his favorite Dallas landmarks. It’s a defining feather in the architect’s illustrious cap, and the evolution of an ethos built on designing from the heart. (For their part, the glamorous residences are already making their mark on the Dallas market, fetching record sales by a wide margin—two years out from completion.)