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The Mullion Guide

Art Hotels

Six hotels that occupy buildings kept for what they already were: an apartment house, a set of river warehouses, a town house full of mid-century furniture. Each entry describes the fabric of the building and the public rooms, and says what to confirm in writing.

A stair hall lit from above inside an older city building

Hotel Vernet

Paris, France

Hotel Vernet stands on a quiet street off the Champs-Élysées in the eighth arrondissement of Paris. The house dates from the early years of the last century and keeps its stone front and wrought balconies. Its restaurant sits under a glazed vault attributed to the workshop of Gustave Eiffel, and that roof is the reason the address is listed here.

The vault runs the length of the dining hall and is carried on a light iron frame. Below it the room keeps its original proportions, with tall windows to the street. Guest floors are reached by a narrow stair hall, and the ground floor holds a bar and a small salon.

A dining hall roofed by a curved glazed vault carried on iron ribs

Ask whether the glazed hall is open to guests at the hour you plan to arrive, since it is used for service rather than as a lounge throughout the day. Room sizes vary a good deal in a house of this age, so confirm the plan held for you.

Hotel Alexandra

Copenhagen, Denmark

Hotel Alexandra occupies a city house near the town hall square in Copenhagen. Its rooms are furnished with Danish design of the middle of the last century: chairs, lamps and cabinets by named makers, collected over years rather than reproduced. Furniture differs from room to room, which is what places the house in this part of the guide.

Public rooms carry the same collection. The lobby and breakfast hall are laid out with period seating, and the corridors hang prints and posters from the same decades. The building itself is older than the furniture, with high ceilings and the plan of a nineteenth-century town house. A lift was added later at the rear.

A lobby furnished with mid-century Danish chairs, lamps and cabinets

If a particular room interests you, write and ask which pieces it holds, since the house documents them individually. Ask also about ceiling height, lift access and street noise, as these differ between the front and the rear of the building.

Casa Fuster

Barcelona, Spain

Casa Fuster stands at the head of the Passeig de Gràcia in Barcelona. The building was completed in 1908 to a design by Lluís Domènech i Montaner, and it worked as an apartment house long before it became a hotel. Its marble front, columned ground floor and corner tower are the original fabric of that house.

The main hall keeps its columns and vaulted ceiling and is used today as a cafe. A room on the first floor is used for music. Upper floors were rebuilt for guest use, but the street front, the stair and the roof terrace over the avenue remain from the original house.

A marble-fronted corner building with columns at street level

Ask which side a room faces, since the avenue front and the inner side differ in light and in noise. Access to the roof terrace and the schedule of the music room are set by the hotel and are worth confirming before arrival rather than after.

Britannia Hotel

Trondheim, Norway

Britannia Hotel occupies a block in the centre of Trondheim and opened in 1870. The house was rebuilt and extended over the following century, and it closed for several years for a full restoration before reopening. Its most familiar room is a hall set under a glass roof, which is why the address appears in this part of the guide.

The hall is a double-height space with a fountain at its centre, ringed by columns and lit from above. Around it the ground floor holds restaurants and a bar. Guest floors run along the street fronts, and the restoration kept the older stair and the plaster work of the public rooms.

A double-height hall with a fountain at its centre under a glass roof

The glass-roofed hall is used for meals at set hours, so ask when it may simply be sat in. It is also worth asking which part of the building a room stands in, since the house grew by stages and the older and newer wings differ.

Hotel Kompaniet

Nyköping, Sweden

Hotel Kompaniet stands by the river in the old part of Nyköping, in southern Sweden. The house is a nineteenth-century building that served trade before it took guests, and the yellow plastered front and timber structure survive. It is a small house, run independently, and its rooms are fitted individually rather than to one plan.

The ground floor holds a restaurant and a bar under low beamed ceilings. A courtyard sits behind the building, and the water runs a few steps away past the old warehouses of the town. Rooms above vary in size and shape because the original plan of the house was kept when it was converted.

A yellow plastered nineteenth-century house beside a river quay

Ask which room has been held and how it is reached, as an older house of this kind has stairs rather than a full lift service. Restaurant hours and the use of the courtyard depend on the season and should be confirmed with the house directly.

Hotel Chais Monnet

Cognac, France

Hotel Chais Monnet occupies a group of nineteenth-century warehouse buildings on the bank of the Charente in Cognac. The buildings were raised to store barrels and worked that way for over a century before conversion. Stone walls, timber roofs and the long low proportions of the stores were all kept when the hotel was made out of them.

The old stores now hold rooms, a restaurant and a hall used for concerts and exhibitions. A newer wing was added in glass and steel alongside them, and gardens run between the buildings down to the river. A cellar under the site is used for events, and the courtyard between the wings is planted.

Long low stone warehouse buildings along a river bank, seen from the garden

Ask whether a room lies in the converted stores or in the newer wing, because the two differ in ceiling height and in outlook. The programme of the hall and the opening of the restaurant change through the year and are worth confirming before travel.

On this page

This guide is independent and descriptive, and no house listed here has any part in it. Building histories are drawn from open sources and may be revised. Nothing is sold, scored or reserved on this site. Access to public rooms, restaurant hours and room plans should be confirmed with the hotel.