These are city houses that were built for something else and reworked as hotels, keeping their fronts, stairs or floor plans. What makes them worth an entry is the building and what hangs inside it. The quarter around each house is described too, because these hotels are hard to separate from their streets.
Hotel Sans Souci Wien
Sans Souci stands on Burggasse in the seventh district of Vienna, at the edge of the museum quarter. The building is an older city house that was reworked into a hotel, keeping its street front while the inside was rebuilt. The operator holds a collection of works and hangs them through the public rooms and corridors rather than in one gallery.
Inside there are a stair hall, a bar, a restaurant and a lower floor with a pool and washing rooms. Works from the collection appear on the walls of the corridors and in the rooms themselves, so the hanging is spread through the house. The operator publishes which artists are represented.
The quarter around it is dense with museums, small shops and eating houses, and the streets are narrow. The museum quarter lies immediately south, and Vienna's ring road is a short walk east. The district is residential above ground level, so the streets stay busy but not commercial.
Kind of buildingReworked city house with a collection
Nearest station or roadVolkstheater, Vienna
Looked upSeptember 2026
Kimpton De Witt
Kimpton De Witt occupies several joined buildings on Nieuwezijds Voorburgwal, in the centre of Amsterdam. The fronts differ in height and date, because the house was made by connecting neighbouring structures rather than by building one. Parts of the site were in other use before the hotel, including workshop and office space, and the joins are still visible from the street.
Inside, corridors change level where one building meets the next. There is a courtyard garden behind, a restaurant on the ground floor and a bar. Works are hung through the public rooms, and the operator describes the collection as Dutch in emphasis. Ceiling heights shift from wing to wing.
The surrounding streets carry shops, offices and a heavy flow of people on foot and by bicycle. The main railway station stands a short distance north, and the canal ring begins immediately west. Trams run along the street front, so the quarter is noisy through the day.
Kind of buildingJoined city buildings in mixed earlier use
Nearest station or roadAmsterdam Centraal
Looked upSeptember 2026
Mama Shelter Lisboa
Mama Shelter Lisboa stands on the edge of Bairro Alto, in a building that held other uses before it became a hotel. The structure was kept and reworked inside, with painted and printed surfaces added through the public rooms. The chain treats interior decoration as the main gesture, so the outside remains plainer than the inside.
A restaurant and bar occupy the ground floor, with a terrace above that looks over the roofs of the district. Ceilings and walls in the public rooms carry painted and printed work. The operator holds a programme of events in the bar, and some of the rooms open to people not staying.
Bairro Alto around it is steep, narrow and residential by day, with eating houses and small shops. The district becomes busy at night, which the operator notes. The Avenida da Liberdade lies below to the east, and the funicular up from the lower town runs nearby.
Kind of buildingReworked building in a hillside quarter
Nearest station or roadAvenida station, Lisbon
Looked upSeptember 2026
Ruby Lotti Hamburg
Ruby Lotti stands on Drehbahn in central Hamburg, close to the inner lake and the opera house. An older commercial building was kept and rebuilt inside as a hotel with compact rooms. The chain calls its houses lean, meaning few services and small rooms, with effort put into beds, sound insulation and the shared floors instead.
The ground floor holds a bar and a desk in the same room, so arrival and drinking share one space. Rooms are small, with the fittings repeated between them. Works and printed material are hung through the corridors. The building's older stair and window openings were kept where the plan allowed.
The quarter is a business one, with offices, the opera house and the inner lake within a few streets. Shopping streets run east towards the town hall. Traffic is heavy on the through roads, and the district empties in the evening apart from the streets around the opera.
Kind of buildingOlder commercial building rebuilt inside
Nearest station or roadStephansplatz, Hamburg
Looked upSeptember 2026
Almanac Barcelona
Almanac Barcelona stands on Gran Via de les Corts Catalanes, the wide avenue crossing the Eixample district. The site had earlier commercial use, and the present house was built behind a frontage that follows the line of the avenue. The plan is long and narrow, with the main rooms turned towards the street.
Inside there are a restaurant, a bar on an upper floor and a terrace with a pool above the avenue. Works and commissioned pieces are hung in the public rooms. The frontage is deeply modelled, so the rooms facing the street have recessed openings rather than flat windows.
The Eixample around it is laid out on a grid of long blocks with cut corners, mixing flats, offices and shops. Passeig de Gràcia crosses nearby, and several of the district's well-known houses stand within a few blocks. The avenue itself carries heavy traffic in both directions.
Kind of buildingHouse on an avenue in a grid district
Nearest station or roadPasseig de Gràcia, Barcelona
Looked upSeptember 2026
These entries were written from what the hotels and public records publish. Buildings are reworked, collections are rehung and public rooms close for private use, so what is described may already have changed. This page is independent, connected with none of the houses above, and it neither sells nor books anything on their behalf.
icerinklegends is an independent reference. It is not connected with any hotel named here, and it sells nothing.
