This Portuguese city, Porto, that has been considered many times as the top European destination, turned one of its 19-centuries palatial mansions into an imposing modern hotel.

A breezy 20-minute drive from the city’s considerably more dense center, the long esplanade in the Foz do Douro neighborhood featured a palatial mansion with a very unique design. The 68-room Vila Foz shows how a thoughtful and light-handed modern design and architecture can so vividly rejuvenate a faded pile.

The architect Miguel Cardoso and interior designer Nini Andrade Silva realigned the building’s old bones to create a unique modern hotel. Merging the 19-century design with the contemporary concept, Vila Foz truly enhances the distinction of the city of Porto.

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A squadron of master artisans scraped away a century of accretions, painstakingly regilded pilasters, restored elaborate cornices and moldings, whilst reworking iron gratings in curling staircases.

The result of this almost maniacal obsession with history is that, from the moment one rolls in through the garden and pulls up at the stone steps, this luxury hotel feels remarkably out of time.

The momentum of the restoration also meant that it is only in the modern bedrooms that Nini Andrade Silva has felt freer to experiment and be more playful in her palette of green hues, beveled mirrors and brassy hardware.

Here, the eye is drawn especially towards the bed where the modern headboard has been replaced by an organic cut-out whose curved ridges evoke a rivulet curving upwards to the ceiling.

This modern hotel features a clutch of luxury suites with bracing views of both sea and garden, alongside easy access to the in-house restaurant. Set deeper within the garden is a spa stocked with the usual suspects of a Turkish bath, sauna, and indoor pool.

What do you think about this modern hotel?

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