Downtown by design

Heritage meets urban at Cape Town’s new inner-city hotel, Gorgeous George. HomeFront checked in to check it out

If you’re suffering from creative block after staying in too many hotel rooms that are boring in their nondescript, impersonal uniformity, make your next business or leisure reservation at Gorgeous George. Old window frames in this new hotel open to overlook Cape Town’s St Georges Mall pedestrian walkway and bring in the hum of the city.

From the friendly reception on street level, where Lucie de Moyencourt’s hand-painted tiles form a mural map of Cape Town, to the buzzing Gigi Rooftop restaurant/ bar that introduces a tropical jungle feel against a backdrop of urban lowrises, Gorgeous George celebrates everything that is inner city, individualistic and slick. Two heritage buildings were cleverly combined to produce 32 rooms and suites.

The property is Cape Town’s first member of Design Hotels, a collection of more than 300 privately owned or operated international boutique hotels rooted in design, architecture and hospitality.

AUTHENTIC

Gorgeous George hotel’s German owner, Tobias Alter, is the head (and primary shareholder) of the real estate development company Formhaus, based in Munich. He believes more travellers are now looking for an authentic experience “outside of what the cookie cutter largescale brands” offer.

“The common denominators are inner city and innovative local design,” says Alter. “With the consolidation of larger hotel chains, there’s a gap for a personalised experience that only smaller, independent boutique hotels can fill.”

Tristan du Plessis of Tristan Plessis Studio was brought in to add colour, flair and local artisanal design flash in the interior spaces. “We came up with a concept that was a reaction to other Cape Town hotels,” says Du Plessis. “We didn’t want beachside or seaside. We wanted an unashamedly downtown and urban focus.”

Charcoal painted walls and multicoloured floral carpeting create visual drama in the passages.

The patterns on the carpet were recreated from paintings by the old Dutch masters, using highdefinition technology – an African first on this scale, according to Du Plessis. The designs repeat in rugs in the bedrooms.

SHOWCASE

“From an aesthetic perspective we wanted a showcase for South African design,” says Du Plessis. They’ve achieved it. My bedroom links to a lounge with a Gregor Jenkin Quaker chair propped at one of his narrow black steel desks, near a mural handpainted by David Britz.

A drinks trolley by Douglas & Co features an outsized pink wheel against a black metal frame. Alongside a velour couch is a brass pill mirror “inspired by the Cape Dutch arches of a neighbouring building”. An oak and steel storage unit designed by Du Plessis