The Place
Art hotels, some genuine, some pretentious, are a Berlin institution. This relatively new one we rate as genuine. There’s a friendly, rather than a self-consciously stylish atmosphere in the reception, which is originally rather than expensively furnished, with idiosyncratic touches (look upwards at the wall behind the desk), artworks and an informal bar and high stools for a self-served drink from the vending machine. You move from this contemporary area to the staircase and connecting parts, where the building’s traditional architecture has been preserved – a nice contrast. Then you switch gear again in your bedroom, which will be a minor work of art, or at any rate of design. Each was created by a different ‘renouned’ artist, who receives a royalty each time his room is rented. Styles are as eclectic and varied as you could wish, from ‘painterly’ (see the Van Gogh single, complete with hat and painting smock hanging by the bed) to the minimalist yellow carpet-lined room – no bed, just mattresses sunk into a carpeted platform. There’s a drawback to the place, about which the management are honest: a railway line runs close to some of the bedrooms and despite double glazing in most of the affected rooms, there is still some disturbance.