3 of a kind
DOLDER GRAND, ZURICH
Kurhausstrasse 65 , 8032 Zurich, Switzerland, tel: 00-41-44-4566000, doldergrand.com
Grand is the operative word for this hotel set on a lake outside Zurich, with views of the city and the Alps. Built in 1899, it has welcomed guests such as Haile Selassie, Albert Einstein, Yehudi Menuhin, Thomas Mann, Winston Churchill, Walt Disney, Sophia Loren and the Rolling Stones.
When a Swiss financier and property owner bought it, the hotel got the benefit of his stunning art collection. More than 100 pieces from Camille Pissarro, Damien Hirst, Jean Tinguely, Andy Warhol and others were installed in 2008 after the hotel was renovated and had two wings added by architects Foster and Partners (with interiors by United Designers).
The art washes over you the minute you enter the hotel and encounter a 10 metre-wide Warhol piece hanging over the reception desk (which took the work crew several hours to lift into place). Most of the art is in the public areas although some of it is on upper bedroom floors, so you’ll need to go corridor cruising to seek it out.
Salvador Dali's Femmes Métamorphosées– Les Sept Artsis at the entrance to the double-Michelin starred restaurant, while Pissarro's four paintings, Les Quatre Saisons, sparkle amid silver-leaf walls in the private dining room. Henry Moore's Three Piece Reclining Figure: Drapedsits on the Garden Restaurant terrace. While on the way to the spa, you will be pampered by Niki de Saint Phalle and Jean Tinguely's Le Monde,and on the spa terrace, Fernando Botero's opulent Woman with Fruitcreates a bright spot. Other pieces around the hotel include those by Joan Miró, Zaha Hadid, Keith Haring and Takashi Murakami.
Rooms:There are 173 rooms and suites, in both the historical old part (with white marble bathrooms and balconies) and the modern new wings, with floor-to-ceiling windows and sandy Jura limestone bathrooms. Doubles start at CHF 590 (€490).
THE MERRION, DUBLIN
Upper Merrion Street, Dublin 2, tel: 01-6030600, merrionhotel.com
Classical architecture from the 18th century combines with 19th and 20th century art in the Georgian Merrion Hotel. A walk through the hotel is like taking a walk through key artists of Ireland. The paintings begin at the front entrance where there are two Louis le Brocquy pieces – Man Writingand Women in White.
Also in the front hall is Lady in a Printer's Workshopby Daniel Maclise, the Cork-born artist who became a society figure in Regency London and hung out with Dickens and Thackeray. A piece called The Hour of Sleepby Jack B Yeats is there too. The self portrait, painted in 1951, is said to show how he was preparing for his death at that time. His painting The Old Grass Roadhangs in the No 23 cocktail bar.
In reception there is work by Mainie Jellet ( Achill Horsesand Madonna and Child) who studied Cubism in Paris with Evie Hone. Jellet's Seated Nude is in the cocktail bar. Good Friday, Fuenterabbiaby Belfast-born Sir John Lavery can be seen in reception too and his Portrait of a Ladyis in the second drawing room. In the middle drawing room is Harbour Viewby Nathaniel Hone, whose paintings often depicted the sea, sky and coast around his home in Malahide. In the third drawing room is A Sunny Afternoonand Concarneauby William Leech, and Red Rocks and Seasand Breton Girlby Roderic O'Connor, who also has paintings in the O'Connor Room at Restaurant Patrick Guilbaud.
Rooms:There are 123 rooms and 19 suites in the hotel decorated with Irish fabrics and antiques. Some are in the new garden wing while others are in the main part of the hotel. Some have a view of the Dáil, so you can keep an eye on things of a political nature should you be that way inclined. Doubles from €199, or €230 BB.
GRAMERCY PARK HOTEL, NEW YORK
2 Lexington Avenue, New York, NY 10010, tel: 001-212-9203300, gramercyparkhotel.com
As well as having some great contemporary art hanging around the place, the Gramercy Park has welcomed artists of many disciplines including actors such as Humphrey Bogart, who married his first wife here, and Bob Marley, who was a regular guest. John F Kennedy also spent many weeks there as a child when his family camped out there for long periods.
It’s still a staging post for actors, writers, intellectuals and artists. The hotel, which dates from 1925, was latterly taken on by Studio 54 founder Ian Schrager and the art collector Aby Rosen, who is the sole owner now. The backdrop for the artworks is an artwork in itself, with architect John Pawson having worked on the hotel and Oscar-nominated director Julian Schnabel doing the interior. The interior combines a fabulous collection of high-end pieces, antiques and flea-market finds, and hand-made fixtures, fittings and furniture.
The art collection on show in the lobby and public areas is constantly changing, but core pieces are by Andy Warhol, Keith Haring, Damien Hirst and Jean-Michel Basquiat. Many of the pieces are by relatively young American artists, born in the 1960s, and so offer those from other countries an insight into the art scene in the US. The hotel says it offers “a rare and new opportunity to experience museum-quality art in an intimate, relaxed and personal environment. Gramercy Park Hotel is taking the pretension out of art viewing and making it democratic.”
Rooms: There are 185 rooms and suites, each with a unique combination of colours, materials and art. The six suites all have bedrooms, a living room and dining room, and the bathrooms have deep baths and showers. The 111sq m penthouse overlooks Gramercy Park. Doubles from $425 (€315).