This section covers six houses where the building itself is the subject: an old house on a square in Barcelona, a curved plan on the Alster in Hamburg, rooms spread across a London street, a merchant house in Porto, a mansion above the sea at Cape Town and courtyard towers in Shanghai. Each is described from public sources.
What these six share is that the plan came first. Some are old buildings taken over and left readable, others were drawn from scratch around a shape, and in each the rooms follow that decision.
Hotel Neri occupies a house on a small square in the Gothic Quarter of Barcelona, behind the cathedral. The building is old, with masonry and timber left visible in the public rooms, and a courtyard runs through to the stairs. It is a single independent house rather than one address of a chain.
The idea
What puts this house in the art section is the way the old fabric is treated. Stone walls, beams and vaults are left plain and lit, and newer fittings are set against them without imitating them. The result reads as one building of several ages rather than as a restoration.
The building
The plan turns on the courtyard, which is the way through from the square to the rooms and the stair. A library, a dining room and a roof terrace occupy the ground and upper levels. Alterations from several periods are visible in the walls, and the house has been changed over centuries.
Practical points
The square outside is small and given over to people on foot, so arriving by car needs planning with the house. Rooms differ in size and outlook because the plan is old and irregular. The terrace and the dining room keep their own hours, worth confirming when you write.
Checked · September 2029
Art Hotel · Hamburg, Germany
The Fontenay
The Fontenay stands on the shore of the Outer Alster in Hamburg, on a wooded plot beside the water. The building is a modern one, set out on a curving plan rather than as a rectangular block, so the facade turns continuously. It is an independent house rather than one address of a group.
The idea
The plan is the reason it belongs here. Overlapping circles set the shape of the building, so corridors curve, rooms are wedge-shaped and almost every window looks out at a different angle. The geometry is readable from the street and from the far side of the lake.
The building
An atrium runs up through the centre of the house and is lit from above. Public rooms, a dining floor and a rooftop level open off it, and a spa occupies an upper storey with views over the water. Lawns and trees stand between the building and the shore path.
Practical points
Rooms vary in shape because of the curved plan, so ask what outlook you are getting. The lakeside path outside is public and busy in fine weather. Restaurant and spa hours are set separately from the hotel and are worth confirming before you travel.
Checked · September 2029
Art Hotel · London, United Kingdom
Chateau Denmark
Chateau Denmark is spread across several buildings around Denmark Street in central London rather than gathered into one house. Rooms and apartments sit above and beside the street's long-standing music shops. Reception and the addresses it serves are behind separate doors, so arrival and rooms are not in the same building.
The idea
The scattered plan is what defines it. Instead of one block with corridors, the house is a set of rooms in old buildings on and around a single street, each with its own stair and its own outlook. The music trade of the street is part of the setting.
The building
The buildings are narrow and tall, in the pattern of the street, and the floors are small as a result. Interiors are dark and heavily decorated, and rooms differ from one another rather than repeating. Public rooms are limited, since most of the space is given over to the rooms themselves.
Practical points
Ask which building your room is in and how to reach it, because the addresses are separate. Denmark Street is central and loud in the evening. Services that a single-building hotel keeps in one place are handled by arrangement here, so settle what you need before you arrive.
Checked · September 2029
Art Hotel · Porto, Portugal
Casa da Companhia
Casa da Companhia stands in central Porto, in a house built for a trading company and altered since. Baroque plasterwork and a granite stair survive in the public parts, and the rooms are fitted into the old floors. The house is small and is run as a single property rather than as a chain address.
The idea
The interest here is the survival of a merchant house plan. Reception rooms of unusual height sit above the entrance floor, and the sleeping rooms follow divisions the building already had. Decorated ceilings are left as they were found, with new fittings kept low and plain beneath them.
The building
A stone stair rises through the centre of the house, and the main rooms open off it at each level. A courtyard and a small pool sit behind the street front, out of sight from the road. Windows on the front face a narrow city street rather than open ground.
Practical points
The house is in the historic centre, where streets are steep and often closed to cars, so ask about arrival. Rooms differ in ceiling height and window size because of the old plan. The dining room keeps limited hours, which are worth checking before you travel.
Checked · September 2029
Art Hotel · Cape Town, South Africa
Ellerman House
Ellerman House stands above the sea at Bantry Bay, on the slope west of the centre of Cape Town. The main building is an early twentieth-century mansion, with villas added on the same terraced grounds. A collection of South African art and a wine cellar belong to the house, which is independently run.
The idea
The collection is what places this house in the section. Works hang through the rooms and corridors that guests use rather than in a separate gallery, and a purpose-built space on the grounds carries changing displays. The house is lived in around them and is not arranged as a museum.
The building
Terraced gardens step down the slope in front of the house, with the sea beyond them. The main building holds the public rooms and a wine cellar cut into the hill, and separate villas stand alongside. Lawns and paths link the buildings, and most of the rooms face the water.
Practical points
The address is on a steep coastal road, so arrival is usually by car. Villas and the main house are booked separately and differ in what they include. Access to the art spaces and to the cellar is arranged through the house rather than open at fixed hours.
Checked · September 2029
Art Hotel · Shanghai, China
The Middle House
The Middle House stands in Jing'an in central Shanghai, set back from Nanjing West Road behind a screen of other buildings. Hotel rooms and serviced residences are held in separate towers, arranged around a courtyard at ground level. Shops and restaurants occupy the lower floors of the same development, which is set around that courtyard as well.
The idea
The courtyard is the organising idea. Rather than a lobby facing the street, the entrance is reached through an open, planted space between the buildings, and the public rooms look into it. The arrangement holds the road at a distance without walling the site off from it.
The building
Two towers carry the rooms and the residences, and lower buildings hold restaurants, a shop level and a fitness floor. Timber, stone and green glazed tile appear through the interiors. The courtyard is planted and open to the sky, with paths crossing it between the separate entrances.
Practical points
Rooms and residences are booked on different terms, so check which of them you have. The lower retail floors are open to the public, so the ground level is busier than the hotel entrance suggests. Metro stations lie close by, and arrival on foot is straightforward.
Checked · September 2029
Before you use this page
Diamond Dynasty PL is an independent reference and sells nothing. The wording here follows public sources, which change without notice. Older buildings are altered, and what is visible or open in a house can change between one season and the next. This site is not connected with any hotel named on it, takes no bookings and holds no rooms. Check every detail with the property.
