The hotel’s heritage-listed building was the former historic archive of Cologne, created after a design by Friedrich Carl Heimann. Now, after two years of extensive renovation spearheaded by visionary Michael Kaune, the neo-gothic 1897 property is an archive of modern design. With a careful eye to restoring the building’s historical details, each of the 34 rooms and suites are cut differently and befittingly furnished with individual character. Some of the suites feature six-meter high cross vaults, while the Salon Suite boasts a hand-painted medieval wooden ceiling from 1390.

The hotel’s interiors are filled with design classics by the likes of Charles and Ray Eames, Arne Jacobsen, Corbusier, and Mies van der Rohe. Taking advantage of the space and scale of the historic building, Vernor Panton’s playful “Living Tower” and stool can be seen in one of the rooms. The bathrooms are furnished with Parisian Metro tiles with quirky details, such as the “Grasshopper” floor lamp by Greta Grossman. In the lobby, a striking vintage brass and Belgian bluestone front desk greets guests.

A self-professed lover and collector of design classics, Michael Kaune says his tryst with design-driven hotels began with the Paramount in New York and “over time, in my roles as creative director for corporate design and advertising, gallery owner [contemporary photography], and Editor-in-Chief of QVEST magazine, I’ve certainly visited more than 600 hotels,” he adds. It’s not surprising then that the Cologne-native wanted to pour his passion and expertise into a hotel of his own. Opportunity presented itself three years ago: “I got offered this great building in the neighborhood where I grew up.” The result is a hotel that is right at home as the city’s new modern showroom.

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