In a city defined by its stately noblesse, the Palace Hotel is an icon of Madrid grandeur. The Spanish capital has been shaped over the centuries by kings and dukes, generals and cardinals. But the 112-year-old Palace has just had an overhaul designed to highlight another side of the city: Its history of avant-garde art and literature.
The building is a metropolitan giant with 470 rooms. It was the first hotel in Spain to boast ensuite bathrooms. The €90 million (US$97.14 million) refurb was about bringing its soul back. At its revitalised heart is an Art Nouveau dome, with light pouring through its stained glass, that rises high above a circular bar set in a winter garden. During the dark days of Spain’s civil war, the hotel served as a hospital and this area was its operating theatre. But during the Movida madrilena, a punky countercultural movement that sprang up after the death of dictator Francisco Franco, it was a venue for legendary parties.
Its renovation means a leap up the fanciness scale. The pragmatic old Westin Palace Hotel — run under franchise by Marriott — emerged glistening last week as a new member of the same group’s Luxury Collection.
