Art Hotels

Six houses where the building itself was the starting point: two palazzi, a villa above the sea, a stripped office block, a railway-quarter house and a glass tower beside a park. Each entry sets out what stands on the site, how the shared rooms are used, and what to ask before arriving.

A high panelled room in an old European house with painted walls and tall windows.

The entries

Hôtel Les Deux Gares

Paris, France

What stands here

The house stands on a short street between the Gare du Nord and the Gare de l'Est, in a quarter given over to railway traffic. It is a small building, and the hotel occupies it whole rather than sharing it with other uses. The ground-floor rooms were laid out by a stage designer, so patterned wallpaper, painted woodwork and figured floors run through without a break.

How it works

Guests come in from the pavement straight into the sitting area, which doubles as the bar and stays in use through the day. The dining room next door serves at set hours, and the staircase and lift lead directly to the guest floors. The plan is narrow, so the common rooms are small and are used in turn.

Ask before you come

The street is busy with station traffic, so ask which side of the house a room faces if quiet matters to you. Check the hours the bar and the dining room keep, since both close between services. Storage for luggage is limited by the size of the ground floor and is worth arranging in advance.

A narrow city hotel front on a quiet street with tall shuttered windows above.

Category: Art Hotels
Location: Paris, France
Checked: December 2029

Next: Six Senses Rome

Six Senses Rome

Rome, Italy

What stands here

Set at Piazza di San Marcello, a short walk from the Via del Corso, the hotel occupies the Palazzo Salviati Cesi Mellini. The building is a historic palazzo, and its conversion kept the masonry and the courtyard plan while fitting new services behind them. Travertine, lime plaster and reclaimed wood carry through the public rooms. The ground floor holds the entrance court, the bar and the restaurant.

How it works

The court at the entrance is left open through the day and leads to the bar, which serves as the main sitting room of the house. The restaurant works from the same floor and keeps its own hours. Below ground, the spa runs a sequence of thermal rooms that guests book by slot. A roof terrace sits above the highest guest floor.

Ask before you come

Ask how the spa sequence is booked, since slots are held rather than open all day, and confirm whether the roof terrace is in use during your dates. Weather closes it at times. The palazzo is a protected building, so lift access and room layouts vary from floor to floor.

A stone courtyard inside an old Roman palace building with arched openings on two sides.

Category: Art Hotels
Location: Rome, Italy
Checked: December 2029

Next: Bulgari Hotel Tokyo

Bulgari Hotel Tokyo

Tokyo, Japan

What stands here

This hotel takes the upper levels of the Tokyo Midtown Yaesu tower, above the station district on the east side of the Imperial Palace grounds. Guests arrive at street level and are taken up by a dedicated lift to a reception floor high in the building. Marble, dark timber and Murano glass run through the common rooms, fitted out by the Milanese practice that has handled the group's houses.

How it works

Everything shared sits on two levels near the summit of the tower. Reception, the bar and the lounge occupy one floor; the restaurants, the pool and the spa occupy the other. Guests move between them by internal lift rather than through the office parts of the building. The pool runs the length of one side, with the spa treatment rooms off the same corridor.

Ask before you come

Ask which of the restaurants are open to outside visitors and which are held for residents, as this changes the hours. Arriving by car and arriving on foot follow different routes in, so confirm the entrance. Spa and pool use is timed, and access for children is restricted.

A high interior lounge in a modern tower with glass walls looking over a city at dusk.

Category: Art Hotels
Location: Tokyo, Japan
Checked: December 2029

Next: Casa Brera

Casa Brera

Milan, Italy

What stands here

The hotel sits on Via Fatebenefratelli in the Brera quarter, in a nineteen-seventies office block that has been stripped back and refitted. The exterior grid of the old building is still legible from the street. Work by Milanese studios furnishes the public rooms in the plain, hard-edged manner the original architecture suggests. A courtyard cut through the middle of the plan brings daylight into the lower floors.

How it works

The courtyard is the pivot of the building: reception opens onto it, and the bar and restaurant run along two of its sides, so guests cross it constantly. Above, a roof level carries a second restaurant and a pool that residents use. One core serves the building, so every shared room is reached from the same lifts.

Ask before you come

Confirm whether the roof level is open during your stay, as it closes in poor weather and for private use. The courtyard is partly uncovered, which changes how the ground-floor rooms feel in rain. Brera restricts vehicle access, so ask how to reach the door if you arrive by car.

An open interior courtyard in a stripped concrete building with planting at ground level.

Category: Art Hotels
Location: Milan, Italy
Checked: December 2029

Next: Villa Igiea

Villa Igiea

Palermo, Italy

What stands here

The villa stands above the water at Acquasanta, on the northern edge of Palermo, and was built for the Florio family late in the nineteenth century. Ernesto Basile fitted out its principal rooms, and the Sala Basile keeps its painted decoration. Terraces step down from the house towards the sea, and a garden of mature planting wraps the slope.

How it works

The painted room is kept as a sitting room and is opened for guests rather than used for service. Reception, the bar and the terrace restaurant sit on the main floor, with doors to the garden left open in warm weather. The grounds fall away steeply, so the garden is a route as well as a place to sit.

Ask before you come

Ask about routes through the garden if steps are difficult, since several terraces are linked only by stairs. Confirm which of the outdoor rooms are in service, as they close with the weather and out of season. The villa stands some way from the centre of Palermo, so check how transport into town is arranged.

A large nineteenth-century villa above the sea with garden terraces falling away below it.

Category: Art Hotels
Location: Palermo, Italy
Checked: December 2029

Next: The Emory

The Emory

London, United Kingdom

What stands here

The Emory stands at Old Barrack Yard beside Knightsbridge, close to Hyde Park, in a building designed by Richard Rogers and completed by his practice. The glass elevation and exposed structure are carried through inside. Each guest floor was given to a different designer, so the finishes change as the lift rises, while the frame and the plan stay the same on every level.

How it works

Arrival is at ground level, where reception and a small lounge sit behind the glazed front. A restaurant and bar occupy the highest floor with a terrace beside them. Below ground there is a spa with a pool, treatment rooms and a gym, reached by the same lifts. No lounges sit on the guest floors, so the two ends carry all shared use.

Ask before you come

Ask which designer's floor a room sits on if the finishes matter to you, since they differ noticeably. Roof-level seating depends on weather and on private use, so confirm before relying on it. The entrance is set back from the main road, which matters when arriving by car.

A modern glass-fronted hotel building on a quiet mews with exposed steel structure.

Category: Art Hotels
Location: London, United Kingdom
Checked: December 2029

Next section: Capsule Hotels

This is an independent reference and nothing on the page is supplied by the houses described. Details are drawn from published sources and from the operators' own pages, and buildings of this age are altered often. The site is not connected to any hotel, sells nothing and takes no reservations. Confirm everything with the house itself.