“I’m a meat-and-potatoes guy,” Leo Xarras says, standing against waterfall fountains on the deck of The Row, his 158-room luxury hotel that opened in Somerville in August.

DIP INTO THE PAST: Antiques and replicas representing the ’20s and ’30s are throughout the hotel, including framed swimsuits and artwork as well as these iron figurines at the pool.

STAIRWAY FROM HEAVEN: The floating staircase created by Linder Enterprises dominates The Row’s
otherwise grand lobby.

ART DECO: The Row Hotel at Assembly Row’s facade interprets Somerville’s manufacturing heyday.

But Xarras, a wide-shouldered guy with a square jaw and dark eyes, proclaims this project brought out his sensitive side. That’s easy to believe. Mention the sweeping staircase that seems to suspend midair in The Row’s lobby, and he appears giddy. The same is true if you point out the splashy abstract paintings in the event halls, the grassy rooftop garden or the metal sculptures throughout the hotel.

But there’s no denying this tall, dark hotel is a masculine nod to the former Ford factory of Assembly Row: The front door is flanked by I-beam columns and topped with black granite carved in art deco-like patterns. Inside, the place is draped in muted grays, coffee browns and polished bronze, while echoes of the 1920s are everywhere, in design and antique displays.

Says Xarras: “We wanted it to be a celebration of the past.”

The Row Hotel 360 Foley St. Somerville, MA 02145