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Art Hotels

Six hotels where the building, the interiors or a collection carry as much weight as the rooms. They stand in Paris, London, Porto, Vienna, Hamburg and Fez. Some occupy old houses adapted to a new use, others were raised for the purpose, and each entry says which without embellishment or comparison.

A stair hall lit from above inside an older city building

Grand Pigalle Hotel

Paris, France

A patterned floor and striped fabrics inside a corner building in Paris

Grand Pigalle Hotel occupies a corner building of the Haussmann era in the ninth arrondissement, in the part of Pigalle that slopes toward Montmartre. It is run by the Experimental Group, whose first ventures were cocktail bars, and the ground floor still works as a bar and dining room for the street outside. The building sits within a short walk of two metro stations.

Interiors are by Dorothée Meilichzon: patterned floors, striped fabrics, brass fittings and built-in headboards, repeated with variations from floor to floor. A spiral stair ties the levels together. Bedrooms are compact by the measure of the quarter, and the front ones look onto a busy junction. Breakfast is taken in the same room as the evening service.

Ask which rooms sit at the back if street noise matters, since the bar downstairs keeps late hours. It is also worth confirming when breakfast is served and whether the dining room is given over to private events during your stay.

  • CategoryArt Hotels
  • LocationParis, France
  • CheckedSeptember 2026

Kimpton Fitzroy London

London, United Kingdom

Terracotta dressings and turrets on a large listed building facing a city square

The Kimpton Fitzroy stands on the east side of Russell Square in Bloomsbury. Charles Fitzroy Doll designed it in a French Renaissance manner, and the building was finished in 1898 before opening to guests at the turn of the century. It carried the name Hotel Russell for most of the years since. Two underground stations and the British Museum lie within a short walk of the entrance.

Terracotta dressings, turrets and four carved queens above the entrance survive outside. Within, the grand stair, the marble columns and the old banquet hall remain in use, and bars and a dining room open off the lobby. Bedrooms sit behind, in ranges of very different shapes and heights. A quieter lounge opens toward the square.

Room shapes vary widely in a listed building, so ask what you are being given and where it faces. Questions about lifts, stairs and step-free routes are worth putting in writing, as are the opening hours of the bars and the dining room.

  • CategoryArt Hotels
  • LocationLondon, United Kingdom
  • CheckedSeptember 2026

Torel 1884

Porto, Portugal

Stone and timber detail preserved inside a nineteenth-century house in Porto

Torel 1884 stands on Rua Mouzinho da Silveira, in the trading quarter that runs from the cathedral hill down toward the Douro. The nineteenth-century house holds the rooms and suites, while a second historic building on Rua das Flores holds apartments under the same name. The street runs straight down toward the river and the old customs quarter, and both buildings stand on it or beside it.

The conversion kept the structure, the stonework and part of the timber floors. Rooms take their themes from Portuguese trade with distant ports, each fitted with objects and fabrics chosen to that idea. A bistro and wine room occupy the lower level and open toward the street. Reception for both buildings is kept in the house on Mouzinho da Silveira.

Say plainly whether you want the house or an apartment when you write, since the two addresses stand a short walk apart. Ask about stairs and lifts, and about how the bistro handles breakfast for guests of both buildings. Parking in this quarter is limited, so raise that early.

  • CategoryArt Hotels
  • LocationPorto, Portugal
  • CheckedSeptember 2026

Hotel Grand Ferdinand

Vienna, Austria

Mid-century Viennese furniture and dark timber in a hotel dining room

Hotel Grand Ferdinand faces the Schubertring, on the boulevard that circles the old centre of Vienna. The building served as offices for decades and then stood empty, before it was rebuilt as a hotel and opened in 2015. Its design refers back to the boulevard's nineteenth-century manner without copying it. Trams pass the front of the building along the boulevard, and the old centre begins across the street.

Interiors mix Viennese furniture and lighting of the mid-century with heavy curtains, brass and dark timber. A dining room on the ground floor serves Austrian cooking, and a roof terrace with a pool looks over the rooftops. Rooms range from small inner ones to suites facing the boulevard. A bar off the lobby stays open late.

Ask which side a room faces, as the boulevard is busy and the courtyard side is quieter. Confirm whether the roof terrace is open in your season, and whether it is shared with visitors who are not staying overnight. Tram noise and pool hours are the two questions guests raise most often.

  • CategoryArt Hotels
  • LocationVienna, Austria
  • CheckedSeptember 2026

Hotel Wedina

Hamburg, Germany

Shelves of signed contemporary books in a small Hamburg town house

Hotel Wedina occupies four adjoining town houses on Gurlittstraße, a residential street a short walk from the Outer Alster. The house is known for its library of contemporary literature, gathered with the Hamburg literature house, and for the rooms named after writers who have stayed and left a signed work behind. The lake and its footpaths lie within a few minutes of the front door.

Shelves hold several hundred books inscribed by their authors, kept in one of the houses, while another holds the writers' rooms. The four buildings differ in age and manner, from a nineteenth-century house to plainer post-war structures. A garden behind is used for breakfast in warm weather. Bicycles are kept for guests who want to follow the lake.

Say which of the houses you would prefer when you write, since the character and the stairs differ between them. Ask whether the library room is open to all guests, and how reading evenings affect the garden and the breakfast areas.

  • CategoryArt Hotels
  • LocationHamburg, Germany
  • CheckedSeptember 2026

Hotel Sahrai

Fez, Morocco

Sandstone terraces stepping down toward a long pool above a Moroccan city

Hotel Sahrai stands on the hill of Dhar el Mehraz, above the newer town of Fez and facing the medina across the valley. It was built for its present use on the site of a former summer residence, and the great arches of that earlier house are echoed in the front of the building today.

Christophe Pillet designed the interiors: Taza sandstone, tall windows, Fassi tilework and plain modern furniture. Terraces step down toward a long pool, and a spa, a bar and two dining rooms occupy the lower levels. Most rooms carry a terrace or balcony turned toward the old city. A lift and a stepped path connect the terraces.

Ask specifically for a room facing the medina, because that outlook is the reason many guests come. Transport down into the old city, the hours of the spa and pool, and any closures for maintenance are worth confirming in writing. Ask as well how the hotel arranges guides and cars for the medina.

  • CategoryArt Hotels
  • LocationFez, Morocco
  • CheckedSeptember 2026

This site is an independent reference and sells nothing. Interiors, collections and dining rooms change hands and change shape, so treat what follows as a starting point and confirm details with the property. We are not affiliated with any hotel named here, take no bookings and accept no payment for inclusion.