Two new hotels equals two new reasons to turn your next USA visit into a double city break.
Raffles Boston
Raffles’ newish outlet at The OWO, London – Winston Churchill’s headquarters during World War II – still has tongues wagging a year after opening. But this stunning new Boston outpost is equally deserving of our attention, and indicative of how adept this hotel group – which has new properties planned in Jaipur, Jeddah and Singapore’s island resort Sentosa – is when it comes to throwing up surprises.
Within its 35 storeys – from the higher echelons of which guests enjoy views over the Charles River, as well as the city skyline and the gorgeous brownstone neighbourhoods at its fringes – there are 147 guestrooms and 146 branded residences. New York design firm Stonehill Taylor is behind a design aesthetic inspired by Massachusetts’ Emerald Necklace: a 1,100-acre chain of parks linked by parkways and waterways.
As such, biophilia calls the shots, literally from the ground up. Guests are greeted at street level by a hand-blown glass chandelier resembling falling leaves, before whizzing upwards to the Sky Lobby on the 17th floor – the hotel’s nerve centre, where abundant flower displays and copper shelving festooned with plant life compete for visitor attention with an imperious spiral staircase ascending an iron and glass atrium, and that weapons-grade bonhomie we all expect from American five-star hospitality.
There are 21 Signature Suites and eight Premier Suites, replete with high-gloss lacquer walls, locally created artworks and conservatory-like flourishes, whilst the presidential, 2,000 sq ft Raffles Suite features a fireplace, baby grand piano and 10-seater dining zone. All quarters boast moody, warm and muted colour schemes which sing in soothing harmony with sweeping, curved forms, elegant hardwood floors, myriad textures and striking marble bathroom fixtures.
There are 16 public spaces in all, including conference zones, function rooms, cozy hideaways such as The Writers’ Lounge and five food and beverage outlets (indulging in lobster rolls with a glass of rosé at The Long Bar & Terrace is possibly the finest way to spend an early evening on the Eastern Seaboard). The botanical theme goes into overdrive at the Blind Duck speakeasy, where customers sip cocktails (try the Boston Sling, which sees apple and cranberry added to the Singapore Sling famously invented at original Raffles hotel) amongst florally-themed wall coverings, six-metre-high columns of green-stained oak and metal chandeliers.
The pulse-slowing, subterranean Guerlain Spa, meanwhile, boasts a 20-metre indoor pool and jacuzzi, three private treatment suites and a fitness centre packed with Technogym gear. The room service menu continues the New England cuisine theme (the fried Judith Point calamari with smoked chili aioli is heartily recommended), whilst small touches – returning to your room after dinner, for instance, to find it graced with beautifully printed literary excerpts and nightcaps brought by a 24-hour butler who has troubled himself to find out your drinking preferences – leave you feeling that the ubiquitously (outside France) accepted five-star hotel star rating system is rather stingy.
Prepare to be dazzled, as the Raffles empire expands further in the coming years.
From around €750 per night
The Dupont Circle, Washington DC
One of the largest penthouse suites in the capital city of the most powerful nation on the planet: that’s no small boast. Especially when the quarters in question, thanks to the Midas touch of New York-based, trailblazing mononymous Irish designer Clodagh, is such an exceptional base from which to explore a city whose bookish congeniality will hopefully remain forever impervious to America’s current political turmoil.
Clodagh’s “life-enhancing minimalism” concept reigns supreme in The Grand Penthouse Suite, a ninth-floor space which, when in two-bedroom configuration and including the three heated outdoor terraces, comes to almost 3,000 square feet, its interior zones lavishly lit thanks to floor-to-ceiling glass windows overlooking Dupont Circle and, a mile and a half to the south, the Washington Monument. This generous space – which includes an eight-seat dining room, a fireplace and bathrooms with vast European-style marble baths – is enlivened by live-edge wooden pieces, handwoven rugs, specially commissioned artworks and mid-century flourishes such as the rare wood wall panelling. For around €18,500 per night, you can even book the entire penthouse floor, including 12 bedrooms and the private lift.
Clodagh has also bestowed a fetching kind of homeliness to the lobby, its slatted window fixtures working in tandem with the elegant stucco awning outside to create a moody lighting scenario. Along with the low-slung furniture and brass accented bookcases, this greets new visitors with a high-end apartment-cum private members club ambience.
Clodagh’s rethink of the of all 32 suites – which count among 327 rooms in total, all now replete with natural materials, pulse-slowing muted tones and other design touches, inspired by the designer’s formative years in western Ireland – is just a part of an entire multi-million-dollar design investment in the mid-century property, carried out in close consultation with Bernie Gallagher, Chairman of The Irish family-owned hospitality group The Doyle Collection, as well as the in-house design team.
Martin Brudnizki (the Swedish interiors maven behind the no-holds-barred opulence of London establishments Sexy Fish and Annabel’s) has also applied his own creative nous to the overhaul: as those familiar with his work will realise as soon as they set eyes on the Pembroke restaurant’s velvet banquettes in coral and blue, which surround statement marble tables and sing in flamboyant harmony with quirky artworks and what might be called statement plant life, inside and out. Brudnizki’s inherent boldness also correlates neatly with the globally-tinged but markedly American fare: pasta dishes such as the robustly flavoured Maine Lobster being a perfect example.
Add to that the hotel’s general air of all-American bonhomie, and its being tucked away in a neighbourhood packed with embassies housed in 19th-century mansions, enticing boutique shops and cafes and what was, when it opened in 1921, America’s the first modern art museum – and what you have is sparkling jewel in the US’s hospitality crown.
The Penthouse Suite starts from around €1,350 per night.
