On a narrow street in the Maltese capital of Valletta, a few steps from the Grade I listed grandeur of The Manoel, Europe’s third oldest working theatre, is a stately neo-classical building, once the family home of the island’s esteemed Ellul Wines and Spirits family. Now Matthew and Andrew - the great-grandsons of the founder - who still run the business, have converted the house into an eight suite hotel.
Originally part of a group of buildings, architect Chris Briffa has smartly stitched them together to form one seamless façade, creating one singular palazzo, with three tiers of regimented balconies and Maltese galleriji that overlie the street-level shops and doorways. Inside, timber-beam ceilings, colonnaded fireplaces and traditional patterned tiles are tempered with sleek, modern furnishings.
Suite eight has a jazzed-up galleriji with a wood-panelled Jacuzzi affording sensational views over the architectural arabesques of Valetta's heritage-heaped skyline, but we suggest plumping for number five, in which the brothers’ grandmother’s piano nobly presides next to the freestanding bath.
ADDRESS
81 Old Theatre Street
-
A celestial New York exhibition showcases Roman and Williams’ mastery of lightingLauded design studio Roman and Williams is exhibiting 100 variations of its lighting ‘family tree’ inside a historic Tribeca space
-
‘He immortalised the birth of the supermodel’: inside Dior’s career-spanning retrospective of photographer Peter LindberghOlivier Flaviano, curator and head of Paris’ La Galerie Dior, talks us through a new Peter Lindbergh retrospective, which celebrates the seminal German photographer’s longtime relationship with the French house
-
Take a bite: Laila Gohar and The Luxury Collection’s ‘Cakes & Candles’ are a sweet treat for the sensesLaila Gohar’s six cake-inspired candles draw on The Luxury Collection’s hotels around the world – where guests can enjoy matching edible confections
-
Villa One at the One & Only Palmilla — Los Cabos, Mexico -
Martim — Wroclaw, Poland -
Tattersalls Hotel — Armidale, Australia -
KLoé Hotel — Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia -
Casa Hoyos — San Miguel de Allende, Mexico -
Littlenap — Hangzhou, China -
Casa Santa Teresa — Corsica, France -
Swedish studio Claesson Koivisto Rune designs K5, a new hotel in TokyoStep inside Claesson Koivisto Rune’s design as a 1920s bank turns hotel
