November 2, 2010

Flophouse to Fab?

The Fairmont Hotel always amazes guests with lux surroundings found nowhere else but atop Nob Hill in San Francisco. But even the best needs a bit of refreshing now and then. Last week Champalimaud Design learned they won the category "Interior Design, USA" for the 2010 Americas Property Awards. Why? For the stunning and I mean STUNNING 'refreshing' of the 6,000-square-foot suite that spans the ENTIRE eighth floor of the hotel's historic main building.

Amazingly, the space was originally designed as a personal residence in the '20s by archeologist and expert on Persian art Arthur Upham Pope.

The three-bedroom extravaganza features a vaulted billiards room entirely covered in floor-to-ceiling Persian tiles, a sweeping two-story circular library featuring a gold-leaf rotunda and a dining room that seats ONLY 60 at full-capacity.

Flophouse indeed.