Review: Ecole St Pierre Hotel review
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A hotchpotch of cultures comes together beautifully at Ecole St Pierre Hotel, a 17-room boutique hotel which opened in September 2021 beside the Galata Tower. A former French Catholic school set in the gardens of an Italian monastery, it was designed by Italian architect Gaspare Fossati (who restored the Hagia Sofia in the mid 19th century), run by Dominican monks, and attended by pupils from all over Europe. The remains of the 13th-century Genoese ramparts of Constantinople form part of the restaurant; the monks’ dormitory is now – mon dieu! – a café/lounge hangout with a cocktail bar in the garden. Louvred French windows open onto wrought iron balconies on galleried floors which run around a central courtyard. The original bones of the building, painstakingly preserved, now form the backdrop for zeitgeisty interiors trends – accents of colonial cane, inky-blue Venetian-tiled bathrooms, blond wood, exposed brick, statement contemporary lighting – to make what’s inside as lovely as the pretty facade.
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