Review: First In: Casa de Las Artes, Member of Meliá Collection

Why book?

There are many buildings in Madrid that hold unexpected surprises. Step inside them and behind their historic façades you’ll find winding staircases and endless hidden corners. Huge doorways conceal a thousand and one labyrinths, and these buildings were also the settings for countless dramas. Casa de las Artes is one of these buildings filled with surprises. Or rather, it’s four of them. And, yes, all four have unexpected secrets. As soon as you walk through the door at number Calle Atocha 83, about 10 minutes on foot from the Prado, you’ll immediately be reminded that when you’re in Madrid, you’ll never run out of amazing discoveries, and the city’s art is, similarly, a never-ending series of revelations.

Casa de las Artes is the latest addition to the Meliá Collection, a small (but growing) portfolio of 11 hotels around the world. As we eagerly await more openings from the collection, the first has arrived in Madrid. It is an expression of the brand’s approach to luxury which is more contemporary, more artistic, and more focused on culture than that of some other brands. Its hotels aspire to have a greater connection to the cities where they are located, embracing not only travelers but locals too. As Casa de las Artes welcomes its first guests, we had the privilege of being the first media outlet to spend a night there. If they continue to offer the experience we enjoyed, we expect that many guests will find it hard to leave at the end of their stays.

Set the scene

Let’s start with the lyrics of the popular 1930s song “Madrid,” by the songwriter Augustín Lara (here translated into English). The singer addresses his love and tells her, “When you get to Madrid, my dear / I’m going to make you empress of Lavapiés / And carpet the Gran Vía with carnations / And I’ll bathe you in sherry wine.” Lavapiés and the Gran Vía are just a stone’s throw away from the hotel as the Casa de las Artes which is located in the cultural heart of the city, the Barrio de las Letras—in Madrid everything is ten minutes away, locals often say. As far as the line about sherry, that can be arranged easily enough with a visit to La Venencia, a tavern that has been operating since the 1930s and which is right next door to the hotel.

In addition to its location, an even more appealing aspect of the hotel is its goal of being a home to all seven of the fine arts: painting, sculpture, architecture, music, dance, literature, and cinema. The hotel takes this mission seriously and has created an intense cultural agenda which goes far deeper than mere surface nods to the arts.

The backstory

It feels like every surface in the main entrance is painted in the same warm terracotta color while the imposing original moldings of the main building are reminders of its former life as the headquarters of the General Association of Employees and Workers of the Railways of Spain, built in 1913 and designed by Ricardo García Guereta and José María Otamendi. ASAH studio, run by Adriana and Álvaro Sans, has overseen the complete renovation of this landmarked building. The refurbishment has included connecting it to secondary buildings (with entrances on Calle Moratín) and reimagining its interior design. The architect Pedro Alcaraz was in charge of the concept and the construction.

The bold main entrance immediately announces that there is more to this hotel than first meets the eye. To the right is the reception and to the left, a bright lobby. On the walls hang original lithographs by Dalí inspired by Don Quixote and there are more than a few nods throughout the interior to the Cervantes Society, located nearby at Calle Atocha 87. In front of you there’s a long midcentury-inspired corridor, with an indoor pool to one side and different meeting rooms. They are another connection to the past, reflecting the building’s use as a school. There’s a masterful and smooth transition from Beaux Arts to Italian rationalism.

At the end of the corridor, a large room supported by white columns with golden capitals serves as a library, filled with books. It is easy to imagine long afternoons of conversation, meetings, and even nights of music in this space. This part of the hotel is near the entrance on Calle Moratín, which will be used for guests who require private access to the hotel, and it is also where you’ll find another of the jewels of Casa de las Artes: a small cinema, named Miró in homage to the Spanish screenwriter and director Pilar Miró.

The rooms

Although it may be hard to believe at first glance, there are 137 rooms in the hotel, distributed among its different buildings. The challenge of fitting a hotel in these existing structures means that not all of them are all that spacious. The staff showed me a single room (with a compact five-foot-long bed) that is cozy and has a certain bohemian feel to it. While it’s small, I would still gladly sleep there. For my visit, I stayed in room 507, which has its own living room, a bathroom with bathtub and huge shower, a guest toilet, and two terraces, one of them with a huge outdoor bathtub. While it is one of the largest rooms at the hotel, its design concept is similar to other rooms.

The first thing that made me fall in love with the rooms is that above every bed there are illustrations of different scenes from Don Quixote by the French artist Gustave Doré. The Cervantes reference is once again ingeniously incorporated into the décor. In terms of the rest of the décor, there are warm tan linen curtains, wooden floors, mustard-colored sofas and armchairs, midcentury-modern inspired furniture, marble bathrooms, Nespresso coffee machines and minibars, and sheets you’ll want to take home (and you can, by purchasing them at Meliá’s online store). Bathroom amenities are from the venerable firm Carner Barcelona. If you aren’t already a fan of their products, I expect you’ll become one after trying them.

Another important detail: In all the rooms you’ll find many books about music, cinema, literature, and the other arts, continuing a theme found throughout the hotel.

Food and drink

The biggest wow factor of the hotel is its restaurant, Maché. You won’t see it from the street and instead you have to enter the hotel and go up to the second floor. That is where, majestically, the building’s great hall is. It once served as a theater and common area for the union that used the building in its previous life. The beautiful restored stained-glass windows with the organization’s coat of arms are reminders of that earlier period. There are original light fixtures as well as intricate terracotta moldings. The hotel’s general manager, Belén Díaz Prada, shared the history of the space with me, smiling proudly as she reflected on the months of effort that were required to restore and transform the hall.

While cooking is not normally counted as one of the seven fine arts, the restaurant’s menu makes a good argument for expanding that number to eight. At Maché, the focus is on simplicity and authenticity. We tried some of the traditional tapas, like gildas (skewers of pickled peppers, anchovies, and olives), the ensaladilla (a potato salad) with prawns in garlic and mayonnaise, the roast chicken croquettes, the turbot with pilpil sauce, and the cachopo (a meat pie) from Spain’s Ávila province. I skipped the scrambled eggs and the tomato salad with homemade tuna belly even though I was tempted because I knew I’d be coming back soon. In addition to the extensive wine cellar, the restaurant serves signature cocktails and diners can expect other surprises at this restaurant which turns dining into a theatrical experience.

Maché also serves breakfast, a perfect start to the day. In addition to a buffet with fresh fruit and juices, cold cuts and Iberian ham, cheeses, hummus, yogurts, breads, and pastries, there are à la carte dishes including eggs to order.

Fitness and wellness

The hotel’s heated swimming pool is one of its most unusual features. It is on the left-hand side of the hotel’s main corridor behind walls of glass, creating a surprising contrast between the leisure and relaxation areas on one side of the corridor and the meeting rooms opposite them. It’s a striking example of a popular trend, where design is used to blur the lines between different activities and functions in interesting ways. Those glass walls closing off the hotel pool are perhaps a sign of the future.

Next to the pool you’ll find a sauna and a Turkish bath, and on the floor below there’s a very large gym with access to an interior patio and even a dance studio—yes, every one of the seven arts is represented at this hotel.

Anything else to add?

Casa de las Artes demonstrates that meeting rooms don’t have to be boring. At the hotel they are equipped with easels, paint, watercolors, architects’ plans and sketches, and swatches of fabrics like those used in the hotel’s interior design. Libraries don't have to be silent either. The Casa de las Artes library will include a bar and, instead of “silence, please” signs, there will be portraits of famous writers. We know that, if they could, they would step down from their paintings and join the scene at this hotel where guests are encouraged to experience all that Madrid offers.