Karelinn Hotel — St Petersburg, Russia

The debut of the Karelinn hotel in St Petersburg is a hopeful harbinger that more of the city’s fabulous stock of period architecture will be repurposed with equally pleasing results.
Built in 1843 by the architect Yakov Reimers for a well-heeled merchant named Pavel Karelin, the grand pile in Vosnesenckiy – a few blocks from the Yusupovsky palace – has been reimagined by Aglaia Zarubaeva of local studio Hotelsonly into a modern, brightly lit bolthole. Or, at least, the first floor has – which, along with the peculiarities of the building, does mean that Karelinn’s amenities and services are limited to a continental breakfast and an enclosed yard.
The hotel’s first phase opened last summer during the FIFA World Cup, the architects and designers taking advantage of the hiatus to fine tune the spaces and to work on the original ceilings, some of which were in poor condition and required extensive restoration. The result was worth the wait.
With just 26 rooms, the hotel’s intimate vibe is balanced by the high ceilings, bold graphic art, and a palate of bright hues mixed with muted greys and burgundy. The original arched ceilings, meanwhile, served as an inspiration for the geometry of the curvilinear furniture.
INFORMATION
ADDRESS
Wallpaper* Newsletter
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox.
Voznesenckiy prospect 41
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.
-
With scenography by OMA, Dior’s ‘Designer of Dreams’ exhibition in Seoul is ‘a piece of theatre’
OMA partner Shohei Shigematsu catches up with Wallpaper* about the dramatic show design for the latest iteration of ‘Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams’, which opened in Seoul this weekend
By Daven Wu
-
Mercedes-Benz previews its next-gen people mover with an ultra-luxury EV concept
The Mercedes-Benz Vision V Concept is an art deco picture palace on wheels, designed to immerse passengers in parallel worlds as they travel
By Jonathan Bell
-
Visit this Michelin-star New York restaurant that doubles as an art gallery
Artist Mr.StarCity is exhibiting his emotionally charged yet optimistic ‘Bloomers’ portrait series at Frevo, a Greenwich Village hidden haunt
By Adrian Madlener
-
Villa One at the One & Only Palmilla — Los Cabos, Mexico
By Chadner Navarro
-
Martim — Wroclaw, Poland
By Daven Wu
-
Tattersalls Hotel — Armidale, Australia
By Dimity Noble
-
KLoé Hotel — Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
By Jennifer Choo
-
Casa Hoyos — San Miguel de Allende, Mexico
By Daven Wu
-
Littlenap — Hangzhou, China
By Daven Wu
-
Casa Santa Teresa — Corsica, France
By Daven Wu
-
Swedish studio Claesson Koivisto Rune designs K5, a new hotel in Tokyo
Step inside Claesson Koivisto Rune’s design as a 1920s bank turns hotel
By Danielle Demetriou