The Modernist — Thessaloniki, Greece
A mid-1920s building in Thessaloniki – a few blocks from the Jewish Museum and the Museum of Photography – has been converted into The Modernist, a handsome 40-room boutique hotel by local studio, FORMrelated.
The narrow frontage of the building, originally designed by local architect Alexander Tzonis, informs much of the hotel’s public spaces and rooms, the designers working hard to add light and to subliminally widen tight corners with high windows, fresh-hued drapes and strategically placed mirrors. The cause has been aided with customised wall-mounted furniture, under-bed storage and lighting that play with the scale of the bedrooms whilst showcasing the original floors and cornices. The effect is what FORMrelated describes as ‘a minimalist yet sensual style that moves between art deco, mid-century detailing and Danish design’.
Though the town heaves with excellent food, the hotel’s executive chefs, Panagiotis Xanthis and Lefteris Athanasopoulos, conspire to keep guests suitably sated with modern Greek dishes, among them scrambled eggs and yogurt piled onto a sesame bagel; and bougatsa, a classic Greek filo pie, here filled with tahini cream.
A roof garden makes for a convivial pre-prandial cocktail, whilst a small concept store in the lobby and in-room massages headline an otherwise bijou menu of diversions.
INFORMATION
ADDRESS
32 Ermou Street
54623 Thessaloniki
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox.
Daven Wu is the Singapore Editor at Wallpaper*. A former corporate lawyer, he has been covering Singapore and the neighbouring South-East Asian region since 1999, writing extensively about architecture, design, and travel for both the magazine and website. He is also the City Editor for the Phaidon Wallpaper* City Guide to Singapore.
-
Alexander Wessely turns the Nobel Prize ceremony into a live artworkFor the first time, the Nobel Prize banquet has been reimagined as a live artwork. Swedish-Greek artist and scenographer Alexander Wessely speaks to Wallpaper* about creating a three-act meditation on light inside Stockholm City Hall
-
At $31.4 million, this Lalanne hippo just smashed another world auction record at Sotheby’sThe jaw-dropping price marked the highest-ever for a work by François-Xavier Lalanne – and for a work of design generally
-
NYC’s first alcohol-free members’ club is full of spiritThe Maze NYC is a design-led social hub in Flatiron, redefining how the city gathers with an alcohol-free, community-driven ethos
-
These dreamy cliffside suites in Santorini invite you to sink into serenityCanaves Oia Suites has debuted five new cliffside hideaways designed by Kapsimalis Architects. We checked in
-
Tour the best contemporary tea houses around the worldCelebrate the world’s most unique tea houses, from Melbourne to Stockholm, with a new book by Wallpaper’s Léa Teuscher
-
Sun-soaked European destinations to visit in springDreaming of Florentine palazzos and Greek islands now that the weather is starting to turn? Check into one of these beautiful European hotels and holiday homes
-
Night at the museum: the best art hotels to book nowSleep amid surrealists at London’s Broadwick Soho, or wake up to contemporary favourites at New Hotel in Athens – indulge in an immersive art hotel experience
-
Glamping on the Greek riviera: an alternative resort rooted in luxuryWe check in at the 91 Athens Riviera; an alternative seaside glamping resort in the Greek capital that is all about relaxed luxury
-
Step inside Koumkan, Athens’ new bar of moody glamour and whimsyDesigned by Manhattan Projects, Koumkan’s interiors blend austere yet glamorous flair, evoking the mood of an inter-war bar
-
2025 getaways: where Wallpaper* editors will be travelling to this yearFrom the Japanese art islands of Naoshima and Teshima to the Malaysian tropical paradise of Langkawi, here’s where Wallpaper* editors plan to travel to in 2025
-
Tour an Athens hotel that doubles up as a retro swim clubAce Hotel & Swim Club Athens is a glamorous urban oasis for overnight stays or just a day