Houses in this section are city hotels where the building and what hangs inside it are the reason for the entry. Some are old mansions kept in use, some are new work set among older neighbours. What is recorded is the fabric, the quarter, the parts open to guests and, where the operator states it, the authorship of the interiors.
Entries run from the oldest buildings to the newest, and the house whose date could not be established stands last.
Pillows Grand Hotel Reylof
Pillows Grand Hotel Reylof occupies an eighteenth-century mansion on Hoogstraat in central Ghent, within walking distance of the old harbour and the cathedral quarter. The street front is stone, tall and plain, with a courtyard behind it. A newer wing was added to the property, so the address joins an old house to a modern building.
Behind the historic front the mansion has been fitted out with guest rooms, while the stair hall, the panelling and the proportions of the principal rooms remain. The newer wing carries the larger part of the accommodation. Works of art and commissioned pieces hang through the public floors.
Besides rooms the house holds a restaurant, a bar in the old mansion, a garden courtyard and a spa with a pool. Function rooms occupy part of the ground level. The operator lists the courtyard as open to guests when the weather allows, and the garden is enclosed by the surrounding wings.
In Ghent, Belgium · Built 1700s · Looked at August 2026
Hotel National des Arts et Métiers
Rue Saint-Martin runs past the Musée des Arts et Métiers, and this hotel takes a nineteenth-century Haussmann building on that street. The quarter lies on the edge of the Marais, north of the Centre Pompidou. Stone courses, tall windows and iron balconies belong to the original front and were kept when the house changed use.
The interior was reworked for the hotel by a designer, with concrete, brass and dark timber set against the older shell. Floor plans follow the building rather than a grid, so rooms vary in shape. The staircase and the window openings survive from the earlier house.
The house holds a restaurant, a ground-floor bar and a rooftop terrace looking across the quarter. A smaller basement room is used in the evening. Public floors are open to guests, and the operator lists the terrace as dependent on the weather. The museum stands a short walk from the door.
In Paris, France · Built 1800s · Looked at August 2026
Hotel Altstadt Vienna
Altstadt Vienna is in Spittelberg, a quarter of low houses and narrow lanes behind the Museumsquartier. The hotel takes the upper floors of a townhouse of 1902, reached by a stair and a lift from the street. Its owner assembled a collection of paintings and drawings, and these hang throughout the rooms and landings.
Rooms were laid out by different designers, so no two are alike in shape or finish; ceilings, window frames and parquet of the original apartments remain in many of them. The public rooms keep the character of a private flat rather than a corridor of doors.
There is a salon where cake is served in the afternoon, a bar, a small library and a breakfast room. Works from the collection continue into these spaces. The quarter around the door is residential and quiet in the evening, with restaurants along the lanes.
In Vienna, Austria · Built 1902 · Looked at August 2026
Hotel Josef
Hotel Josef stands on Rybná in Josefov, the old Jewish quarter of Prague, a few streets from the Old Town Square. The building is modern, set between older neighbours, and its glazed front faces a courtyard garden. The interiors were designed by the architect Eva Jiřičná, and that authorship is stated by the house.
Glass, white surfaces and a spiral stair define the entrance level, and the same language carries into the rooms and the bathrooms. The building was made for the hotel rather than adapted from something else, so its plan is regular. The garden separates the two parts of the property.
The ground floor holds a lounge and a breakfast room, and there is a fitness room below. The courtyard garden is open to guests in warm weather. Bicycle storage is provided, and function space can be arranged. The streets around the door are quiet at night.
In Prague, Czech Republic · Built 2002 · Looked at August 2026
Hotel Jakarta Amsterdam
Hotel Jakarta stands at the eastern end of Java-eiland in Amsterdam, on a quay from which passenger ships once left for the Dutch East Indies. The building is made of cross-laminated timber and opened in 2018. Water lies on both sides of the narrow island, and the harbour front runs past the door.
A planted atrium rises the height of the building, glazed on the south side, with rooms arranged around it and balconies facing in. The timber structure is left visible inside. Nothing of an earlier building remains on the site; the quay itself is what carries the history.
The house holds a restaurant and bar at the water, the atrium garden, a sauna and function rooms. A landing stage serves boats along the IJ. Upper floors give a view over the harbour. Parts of the ground level are open to visitors as well as to guests.
In Amsterdam, Netherlands · Built 2018 · Looked at August 2026
Hotel Rosalie
Hotel Rosalie is in the thirteenth arrondissement of Paris, on Boulevard Auguste-Blanqui near Place d'Italie. The quarter is residential, with a market street close by. The building has an ordinary Parisian front; the age of its fabric is not established by the sources used here, so the entry leaves the date open.
Inside, the house was fitted out with painted walls, patterned tiles and commissioned murals, and works by living artists hang in the corridors and the rooms. Room sizes follow the plan of the older building rather than a repeating module. The stairwell and the courtyard were kept.
There is a ground-floor bar and breakfast room, a courtyard used in warm weather, and a terrace. The reception doubles as a lounge. The market street and the elevated railway line lie a short walk from the door, and Place d'Italie is the nearest large junction.
In Paris, France · Built not confirmed · Looked at August 2026
This site is independent and for reference only. Details come from open sources and may change at any time. Dates of building are given only where a source supports them, and are otherwise left open. The site has no connection with any hotel here, sells nothing and takes no bookings. Check access and opening with the house before travelling.
