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.§
