1Notebook
Three hotels that hand their walls to artists, from a Seattle lobby collection to a museum that never closes.
Seattle, United States
Stewart Street, downtown, a block from a light-rail stop. Hotel Max is a boutique hotel with one clear idea: put art where guests will actually walk past it.
The lobby holds the headline pieces, with nationally known names hung beside Seattle artists. Music is the other thread. The hotel has a long tie with Sub Pop, the city's best-known record label, and its records and photography turn up in some of the rooms. A restaurant and bar sit at street level.
Cincinnati, United States
Walnut Street, downtown. The building began life as the Metropole, a hotel from the early 1900s, and 21c brought it back with a museum of contemporary art built into its lower floors.
Those galleries are free and open to anyone, day and night, whether or not they are staying. Exhibitions change through the year, and art spills out into the corridors and lifts. Look out for the large penguin sculptures, a signature of the brand, which tend to wander between floors. The ground-floor restaurant keeps the Metropole name.
Yogyakarta, Indonesia
Yogyakarta has one of the liveliest art scenes in Indonesia. This hotel leans into it: a group of local artists, working with a curator from the city, shaped the interiors and the façade.
Weaving runs through the whole design. The dark exterior and many surfaces inside borrow their patterns from Javanese woven work. Rooms are compact studios, each with artwork of its own. Up top there is a bar with views across the city; below, an outdoor pool and a restaurant. Malioboro Street is a short drive away.