This historic Fort Worth fire station is getting a makeover to become a $26.5 million hotel

Ella Gonzales
·4 min read

The historic Fire Station No. 5 at 503 Bryan Ave. will soon get new life as the centerpiece for a new $26.5 million hotel — and its new restaurant will have a menu designed by a Dallas-Fort Worth hospitality veteran.

The Nobleman Hotel, along with with new restaurant Duchess, is set to open in southside Fort Worth in 2025.

It’s been 42 years since the city sold Fire Station No. 5. Since then, it’s been a Higginbotham office building and the Black Eyed Vodka distillery.

The Nobleman Hotel is a part of the Hilton Tapestry Collection. The hotel will house 121 guest rooms and 32 suites which will wrap around the fire station. Duchess will have a 56-seat dining room and bar with brass accents to keep the architectural integrity of the Fort Worth landmark.

The red mark shows where the Nobleman Hotel will sit on 503 Bryan Ave in the Magnolia District of southside Fort Worth.
The red mark shows where the Nobleman Hotel will sit on 503 Bryan Ave in the Magnolia District of southside Fort Worth.

This southside region of Fort Worth is also known as the Magnolia District, with other booming businesses like Panther City BBQ across the street and Nickle City bar up the road.

Here’s what else we know about the hospitality addition to Fort Worth.

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What we know about Duchess

Duchess will feature a New American cuisine with Texas influence, curated by D-FW hospitality veteran and Top Chef contestant Casey Thompson.

The menu will offer a variety of steaks, seafood and pastas, according to Culture Map Fort Worth. The article also pointed out the Bowl of Red, a “stand-out feature” of the menu: beef boar and beer chili with accoutrements, served in a silver tureen with choice of Fritos or buttered koji rice.

Culture Map also reported a hint of the menu:

  • Starters: Blue crab toast, tuna tartare, beef carpaccio ciabatta, snapper crudo and crispy chicken croquettes

  • Entrees: Red snapper with clams and butter beans, ricotta gnocchi with truffle butter and a fried eggplant schnitzel with a poblano chimichurri

  • Sides: Hand-cut fries with tarragon aioli, baguettes with pan drippings and spinach with black-eyed peas

The new design of the restaurant will also aim to keep the fire station’s interior character, integrating the station’s old firefighter pulley systems and metal accents with new flooring and banquette booth seating.

About Duchess’ menu curator, chef Casey Thompson

Casey Thompson, a Texas native and Top Chef contestant, will head the menu curation and search for an executive chef at the Duchess restaurant.
Casey Thompson, a Texas native and Top Chef contestant, will head the menu curation and search for an executive chef at the Duchess restaurant.

The brains behind the menu is Chef Casey Thompson, a Top Chef contestant and D-FW hospitality veteran.

Thompson began in her home state of Texas, studying under chef Dean Fearing at Rosewood Mansion on Turtle Creek in Dallas. She then went on to help open and become executive chef at Shinsei, a pan-Asian cuisine restaurant also located in Dallas.

In 2007, she competed in season three of Bravo’s “Top Chef”, winning the “fan favorite” prize - the chef with the most at-home viewer votes.

From there she grew her expertise by traveling around the world in Argentina, Thailand and Napa Valley, Calif. She made her stamp in California by focusing on pairing foods with wines and even became the American spokesperson for Terrazas de los Andes wines of Argentina.

She temporarily moved back to North Texas in 2010 and helped open up Fort Worth’s Brownstone restaurant in the West 7th Entertainment District. The cuisine there was similar to what we can expect at Duchess: New American contemporary.

Thompson competed again on Top Chef in 2010 in New York City for the All-Star competition.

Since, she has bounced between Texas and California. Now, she will return back to her roots to help curate the Duchess menu and ultimately find an executive chef.

More about Fort Worth’s Fire Station No. 5

Fire Station No. 5 has been out of service since 1965 and later sold by the city. Now, it will become the anchor for the Nobleman hotel and home to New American cuisine dining.
Fire Station No. 5 has been out of service since 1965 and later sold by the city. Now, it will become the anchor for the Nobleman hotel and home to New American cuisine dining.

Fort Worth’s Fire Station No. 5 was built by architects Sanguinet & Staats in 1910. Sanguinet & Staats has also designed Fort Worth’s fire station No. 10 and 12.

“The firm is best known, however, for its contributions to the design of steel-framed skyscrapers,” according to Texas State Historical Association. “Almost every tall building constructed in Fort Worth before 1930 were designed by Sanguinet and Staats.”

The classic brick building has symmetrical garage doors for the engines and a fire-truck-red front door in the center. The station is topped with a cast stone arch and panel which reads the station’s building date: 1911.

The Nobleman Hotel plans to make the fire station the anchor of the building, preserving its Cowtown charm.