The Fitzwilliam Hotel

Hotel description

It’s a medieval Irish castle relocated to the heart of Dublin and re-imagined for the boom years. The Fitzwilliam is Terence Conran’s big Irish hotel design statement, and it’s not a quiet one. This hundred-odd-room palace lords over the west side of St. Stephen’s Green, complete with park views from the terrace, a Michelin-starred restaurant and a second casual-chic Conran-designed eatery — and it’s about as central as it gets, around the corner from the shops on Grafton Street and walking distance from more nightlife than any one person can handle.

Sir Terence’s ultra-clean modern style is in evidence all over this place, so much so that the frilly script F above the bed feels almost garish, surrounded as it is by expanses of cream and grey. Anyone who can get luxury-hotel guests to move forward out of the Belle Epoque and into something more contemporary deserves a knighthood in our book — here the Fitzwilliam’s clientele of Irish celebs and Celtic-tiger entrepreneurs sleep in stylish minimalist peace.

Views, naturally, get better as you go up, and the penthouse, designed by the very hip London interiors firm Project Orange, is the ultimate in bachelor-pad excess, with a grand piano and massive egg-shaped tub to go with its privileged position overlooking the Green.