Hotels where paintings, commissions and the fabric of the building itself are the reason the door is worth opening.
Port of call no. I
21c Museum Hotel Louisville
Louisville, Kentucky, United States
The first of the 21c hotels took a row of old tobacco and bourbon warehouses on West Main Street and threaded a free contemporary art museum through the ground level, so that the lobby and the galleries are the same set of rooms. Guests come downstairs past installations that change on a curatorial calendar rather than a hotel one. Upstairs the rooms are plain and generous, deliberately quiet after the work below. The restaurant keeps late hours, and the museum floor stays open long after most galleries in the city have locked their doors.
Logged — Opened 2006 · Converted 19th-century tobacco warehouses · Contemporary art museum on the ground floor
Port of call no. II
Le Royal Monceau — Raffles Paris
Paris, France
A 1928 hotel near the Arc de Triomphe that returned from a long closure with art written into its programme rather than hung on its walls as decoration. There is a gallery inside the building, a bookshop given over to art titles, and a member of staff whose whole brief is arranging what guests should go and see in the city. The interiors are theatrical — mirrors, guitars left in rooms, a screening room downstairs — and the effect is less museum than a private house whose owner collects restlessly.
Logged — Reopened 2010 after a Philippe Starck redesign · In-house art gallery and art bookshop · Art concierge on staff
Port of call no. III
The Dolder Grand
Zurich, Switzerland
High on the Adlisberg above Zurich, a turreted resort hotel of 1899 now sits between two curved modern wings. Works from a substantial collection are placed along the corridors, in the lobby and out on the terraces, so that the walk to breakfast doubles as a circuit of them. The older half keeps its long windows and lake views; the newer half is glass and stone and light. A large spa occupies much of the lower floors, which is where most guests end an afternoon.
Logged — Original building 1899 · Norman Foster extension opened 2008 · Sculpture and painting sited throughout public rooms
Port of call no. IV
Byblos Art Hotel Villa Amistà
Corrubbio di Negarine, Veneto, Italy
A Venetian villa in the vineyards west of Verona, frescoed and formal, filled with contemporary art and furniture that argues cheerfully with the architecture. Mendini's colour work runs through the public rooms; the collection is hung where a country house would once have kept portraits. Bedrooms vary a great deal, some under painted ceilings, some in plainer converted service wings. There is a pool in the garden and the town of Verona is a short drive east.
Logged — 15th-century villa, remodelled in the 18th century · Interiors by Alessandro Mendini · Contemporary collection in the historic rooms