Fera Palace Hotel — Salvador De Bahia, Brazil

A rooftop spa and 25m infinity pool
(Image credit: TBC)

Marcelo Lima and Antonio Mazzafera, the former marketing director of London’s Maybourne hotels, could not have found a more ideal location for the debut of their first property under the Fera brand.

Built in 1934 in the style of New York’s Flatiron, the Palace Hotel – an impressive art deco landmark in Salvador da Bahia’s Pelourinho quarter – was for a brief shining moment, the hotel of choice for the likes of Carmen Miranda, Orson Welles and Pablo Neruda. By the time Lima and Mazzafera bought the property in 2011, it had already been shuttered for a decade.

Under the precise scalpel of the Danish architect Adam Kurdahl, the Fera Palace has reopened with 81 spacious rooms. The interiors, also by Kurdahl, retain the original windows, while the rooms and public spaces are feature aged brushed steel fixtures, solid Chesterfields, and mirrored drinks cabinets.

A rooftop spa and 25m infinity pool offer a languid prelude to chef Wellington Santos’s Bahia-influenced menu – think shredded dried beef paired with gouda, grilled tenderloin paired with onion and rösti sauce, and a cheesecake served with the syrup of the local jaboticaba fruit.

Up next for the Fera group is the Fera Baixo Augusta, which is due to open in São Paulo next year.

New York’s Flatiron, the Palace Hotel

(Image credit: Press)

The rooms and public spaces are feature aged brushed steel fixtures

(Image credit: Press)

The rooms and public spaces are feature aged brushed steel fixtures

(Image credit: Press)

Solid Chesterfields, and mirrored drinks cabinets.

(Image credit: Press)

Solid Chesterfields, and mirrored drinks cabinets.

(Image credit: Press)

INFORMATION

Website

ADDRESS

Rua Chile 20

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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.