Three European Openings Show the Work of Building Inside Someone Else's Architecture
A Georgian terrace in Bath, a 1937 London car park and a 1960s Stockholm landmark are all being converted into hotels — by Providence Hotels, Hyatt and Ruby respectively.
Three current European projects have put adaptive reuse at the centre of the design brief. In Bath, Providence Hotels will open Parade Hotel Bath this September across three Grade I listed Georgian townhouses on North Parade, designed as boarding houses in 1740 by John Wood the Elder and overlooking Parade Gardens, Bath Abbey and the River Avon. The hotel holds 49 bedrooms over six floors, with original wooden panelling and restored sash windows retained in communal spaces and most rooms. The ground floor of the central house becomes the 1748 Bar & Lounge; a Courtyard Spa to the rear includes three Spa Garden Rooms with living grass roofs, and a restaurant follows at the end of 2026. It is the group's first full restoration and redesign, according to CEO Joe Bester.
In London, Hyatt Regency London Olympia has opened inside Emberton House, a 1937 multi-storey car park within the £1.3bn Olympia redevelopment, co-designed by Heatherwick Studio and SPPARC with interiors by twenty2degrees and layout and fit-out delivery by EPR Architects. The 204-key hotel adjoins Idalia, an all-day restaurant in the Grade II listed Pillar Hall led by chefs Samantha Williams and Lorena Tommasi.
Ruby Group, meanwhile, has entered Sweden with the 187-room Ruby Frida, set in a converted 1960s landmark in Stockholm's Kungsholmen.