Contract - January/February 2014 - 102

INTERIORS AWARDS

hotel

Client
Starwood Hotels
& Resorts
Location
Seville, Spain

The Gallery HBA London
"A consistent design enhances the history of the hotel, without being
too literal or heavy handed. As all classic hotels should, this hotel
reflects a spirit of place, the romance of travel, and the hope of an
exotic experience." JURY

By Caroline Tiger
Photography by
Starwood Hotels & Resorts
and Tim Beddows

The Hotel Alfonso XIII, the storied hotel in Spain's
culturally rich Seville, had a narrative problem.
Namely, its interior design wasn't communicating its
stellar history. King Alfonso XIII had spent 12 years
constructing it in the early 20th century, and when
it opened in 1929, it became an essential stopover
during the golden age of travel. The building was
designed in the Mudéjar style, a fusion of the city's
Romanesque, Gothic, and Moorish influences.
But the last renovation in 1990 resulted in a bland,
traditionally pan-European interior that made little
reference to the hotel's history or local culture.
To restore the color and drama of the hotel's
heritage while reimagining the 13,500-square-foot
property's 151 guestrooms and public spaces,
Starwood Hotels engaged The Gallery HBA London.
Of course, the designers did not have to look far for
inspiration. "The building is very strong, very
masculine, and architectural," says Inge Moore, a
principal at HBA. "There's this macho-ness of the
matador balanced with the soft play of the flamenco
dancer. We took these narratives and incorporated
them into the design story."
Some of the most impactful transformations
are in the hotel's public spaces. The designers
inspected and catalogued all antique furnishings
102

to remind guests of the room's royal pedigree, and
and chose which pieces to reupholster and refinish
outdoor terraces were recreated.
based on how they would best fit into the new
"The renovation has been an exceptional
scheme. A large, cast-brass chandelier was
discovered in the attic, restored, and returned to the upgrade for the entire hotel, so our guests are
delighted with all the spaces in general," says
grand stairs where it hung decades before. Ornate
Koen Van Malder, design project director of
plasterwork, decorated ceilings, and mosaic-clad
Starwood's Europe, Africa, and Middle East division.
colonnades were painstakingly preserved as the
"Nevertheless, one of the spaces preferred by our
designers chose a bold color palette-adopted
guests is the Bar Americano." The room went from
from the matador's costume-and added layers
a "dark, nothing space," to "a really sexy bar" that
of metalwork and local crafts.
looks like it originated during King Alfonso's time,
While HBA specified for the dated, yellow
chintz-covered walls to be stripped back and crystal Moore says. The strong, dark blue and gold palette
is enhanced by Art Deco features, and includes a bar
chandeliers to be removed, local artisans restored
in polished brass and Macassar Ebony timber.
thousands of azulejos-ornate, hand-painted
The guestrooms were reinvented in styles
ceramic tiles native to Seville that are used
reflecting Seville's three major cultural influences:
throughout the Alfonso. Because the hotel is
Moorish, Andalucian, and Castilian. The Moorish
historically protected, new electrical outlets could
rooms have dramatic furnishings, bold red touches,
not be placed where they would interfere with tile
and headboards with scalloped edges. The
work. In heavily tiled areas such as the lobby, the
Andalucian rooms are feminine, with sculptural
designers carefully oriented furniture to take
millwork trim, which alludes to the swish of a
advantage of sunlight, and placed light fixtures
flamenco skirt. The Castilian rooms, inspired by the
in proximity to existing power outlets.
Two bars within the hotel, Bodega Alfonso and matador, feature deep ochres, dark timber-paneled
Bar Americano, were restored and updated to attract ceilings, and images of horses. The Royal Suite,
which Van Malder notes is still used by royal families
a younger clientele. For Bodega Alfonso, a meeting
visiting Seville, was reimagined as the room where
place once used by the king himself, HBA called
King Alfonso himself would have stayed. HBA
for the preservation of the remaining original
cornices and painted ceilings, for old bar stools to be incorporated artifacts King Alfonso might have
collected on his travels and portraits of the king
reupholstered, for the addition of new lighting and
splashes of "matador red" in the form of comfortable himself. Like the rest of the hotel, it is filled with
beautiful surprises. c
leather banquettes, as well as for the installation of
a massive bar. Portraits of King Alfonso were hung
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Contract - January/February 2014

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