In our new series, Millie Walton selects and explores the world’s best art hotels. For our second edition, she travels to The Largo in Porto.
Porto’s newest and most stylish hotel opened quietly earlier this year – no big social media announcements, no marketing blast or magazine profiles and only a single page website with a phone number and email address for enquiries. It might sound like the epitome of exclusivity (if you know, you know), but it is, in fact, part of a strategy to grow slowly into the surrounding neighbourhood.
The Concept
Referring to a luxury hotel as a ‘home’ might sound like a well-worn conceit but in the case of The Largo, it’s not simply a word but an ethos that defines everything from the art and design to the food, atmosphere, style of service and relationship to the surrounding community.
© Luis Moreira, Courtesy The Largo
The experience begins at the front door. The Largo is located on the busy São Domingos’ Square but, unlike a lot of hotels, it hides rather than asserts its presence, behind an unmarked dark green door. After being buzzed in, a cream stone corridor leads into the lobby, although lounge would probably more accurately describe the space: there’s an open fireplace, sofas and chairs, an alcove with complimentary cake, biscuits, tea and coffee – and no front desk, no waiting around for check-in. The staff greeted us by name and then whisked us up to our bedroom, where we found a printed booklet containing an itinerary with all of the reservations we’d made standing next to a bottle of kombucha in ice (a thoughtful touch as I was pregnant at the time) and two champagne glasses. The itinerary, though, was more of a guideline – time works differently at The Largo; when you feel like breakfast or lunch, you simply saunter up to the rooftop restaurant. The staff are always there to help or to anticipate your needs: when we admired the ceramics at the breakfast table one morning, we were later informed that a visit to the potter’s studio had been arranged for the next day, if we wanted. But somehow all of this attention never feels intrusive.
© Luis Moreira, Courtesy The Largo
Much of the time, it felt as if we had the entire place to ourselves and enjoyed drifting through the spaces, discovering new passageways and surprises: a wine cellar hidden behind a wall, artworks tucked into unusual places, cabinets filled with objects relating to both Porto’s history and that of the buildings that now make up the hotel.
The Collection
© Luis Moreira, Courtesy The Largo
In a hotel where clearly no expense has been spared it would have been easy to pay a curator to fill the walls with art prior to its opening, but this wouldn’t have been in keeping with The Largo’s ‘slow and considered’ approach, nor would it have resulted in a truly interesting or meaningful collection. Instead, the hotel is focused on building deep and lasting connections with artists. We were lucky enough to be shown a few works that had recently been acquired and not yet hung; these were all by young, Porto-based artists who the hotel’s experiences director, Matilde Carolina Barroso had met and supported for some time – attending exhibition previews and making multiple studio visits – before deciding to make a purchase. “It has to feel right for us and for the artist,” Carolina-Barosso explains.
To coincide with The Largo’s launch, they also put out an open-call for artists to make work responding to and incorporating the centuries-old ceiling tiles that were uncovered in the building during its renovation. The shortlisted entries formed a temporary exhibition, with the works placed around the hotel, and the winning entry, A Shelter by Maíra Mafra, becoming part of the permanent collection. Suspended in the lobby by a network of strings, the work resembles a kind of cocoon with inbuilt speakers emitting a creaking soundtrack that Mafra explained as a reference to the history of women’s work and the building itself.
There are a few big hitters, of course, such as Rui Chafes’ sculpture Luz Sobriamente Pura (‘Pure Sober Light’), a ‘floating’ orb balanced on steel tendrils, that has been placed directly below the pool. You can glimpse the sculpture through portholes as you swim. And then there’s the large-scale commissioned mural by the Porto-based, Pritzker Prize-winning architect Álvaro Siza Vieira in the hotel’s restaurant Cozinha das Flores. The work features the architect’s fluid hand-sketched portraits of musicians on ochre ceramic tiles, set against a green tiled background. It’s his only tile mural in Porto and makes reference to the intricate tiled façades of Portuguese houses while also conjuring a suitably bohemian atmosphere for Nuno Mendes’s fabulous eatery.
‘Luz Sobriamente Pura’ by Rui Chafes, © Julian Sommer
Meanwhile, a striking light installation, conceived by Julian Sommer and Can Yanardag, and produced by Vitamin Studio, is projected on to the exposed rock face wall in the lobby. The rock itself is something to behold – a reminder of the hotel’s positioning on a hillside and an elegant way of transforming what’s essentially a tunnel into a dynamic and evolving space. The installation comprises images of Porto’s gardens overlaid into gently morphing technicolour abstractions that respond to the bodies that move through the space. “You become part of the building, you leave your mark,” says Carolina-Barosso.
The Design Details
© Luis Moreira, Courtesy The Largo
To create The Largo, Annassurra enlisted architect, Frederico Valsassina, to transform a cluster of five historic buildings into one seamless space while preserving, as far as possible, the character of the original architecture. That may seem and probably felt at times like an impossible task, but the result is spectacular. The front buildings (that overlook the square) are connected to the buildings at the back by an open-air courtyard with a variety of steps and lifts to take you up to the higher floors. Some of the bedrooms look into the courtyard, while others have balconies overhanging the square. There is the potential for some of the spaces to feel dark, given their limited access to natural light, but this has been cleverly worked into the design through sensual lighting, light-coloured furnishings and simple, natural materials such as stone and marble. For the best views, head up to the terrace where there’s a small restaurant (or rather an open-plan kitchen), a small swimming pool, surrounded by cushioned chairs (sadly no loungers) and sweeping vistas of Porto’s terracotta rooftops and across the Douro River.
The Rooms
© Luis Moreira, Courtesy The Largo
To describe The Largo’s bedrooms as suites is something of an understatement – in terms of both floor space and facilities, they’re more like apartments. Ours opened into a living room complete with a small kitchen, a fully-stocked wine fridge, a cocktail trolley (with instructions for mixing an old fashioned), a sofa and a huge flat screen TV. This led into a bedroom of the same size, with a small balcony running the full length of both rooms, and then into the bathroom, featuring two sinks, a shower and a deep bathtub carved out of a single piece of marble. As throughout the rest of the hotel, the focus is on beautiful, raw materials rather than ostentatious luxury: a mix of wood, stone, brass and a neutral colour palette creates a soothing, uncluttered environment that’s enhanced by warm lighting and carefully positioned furniture.
The Food & Drink
© Matilde Cunha, Courtesy The Largo
For hotel guests, breakfast is served daily at terraco (the pool terrace). Here in a homely, open-plan kitchen, chefs prepare from scratch – and using locally-sourced ingredients – all manner of delights from buttery croissants and fruit preserves, to granola, omelettes, pancakes and juices, including a sweet and sour vinegar shot that helps balance blood sugar levels and improve gut health (much more delicious than it sounds). Each dish comes served in (or on) beautiful, hand-crafted ceramics, made by a Porto-based artist especially for the hotel.
Snacks and drinks are also served here throughout the day – we got the impression that you could pretty much order whatever you wanted, whenever you wanted – but Cozinha das Flores is where the real magic happens. Headed by Nuno Mendes who previously ran Bacchus in Hoxton and for a while, the Chiltern Firehouse, this 10-table restaurant offers a totally unique and laid-back fine-dining experience that focuses on northern Portuguese ingredients and reinventions of old traditions. The kitchen is, again, open-plan, and is located within the dining room, so that you can watch the elegant theatrics of each dish being prepared, cooked and plated.
Mendes is known for his experimental approach to cooking and while each dish is something to behold in its own right, the tasting menu is the best way to truly appreciate his innovativeness – think savoury pastel de natas where the custard is replaced with a rich and creamy turnip filling topped with caviar, giant squid noodles with cod tripe stew, and a dessert made entirely from milk, drawing on Mendes’ childhood memories of growing up on a farm. Dining here was truly one of our most memorable and delicious food experiences to date.
And afterwards, there’s flôr, the neighbouring bar that serves cocktails throughout the day and night, as well as coffees and pastries in the morning.
Art in the Neighbourhood
The cobbled streets and colourful architecture of Lisbon may have long attracted artists from around the world, but Porto has its own, burgeoning art scene and is filled not only with an impressive array of street art, but also with ceramic and painting studios, many of which are open to the public by appointment or for workshops. During our stay at The Largo, for instance, we learnt the ancient Portuguese technique of tile painting from the local artist Francisco Pessegueiro.
© Luis Moreira, Courtesy The Largo
For commercial galleries, head to Rua Miguel Bombarda, where there are also a number of design and furniture shops, cafes and restaurants, and then stop by the historic Art Deco cinema Batalha. The cinema hosts an impressive programme of film screenings and cultural events, and is also home to large-scale frescoes by the renowned Portuguese painter Júlio Pomar. The frescoes were only recently uncovered, having been painted over in the 1940s under a censorship order by PIDE, a state security agency that operated under the authoritarian regime of António de Oliveira Salazar.
Fundação de Serralves, Museum of Contemporary Art, Porto, Portugal. Photos: © Fernando Guerra | FG+SG
It’s also worth visiting the Serralves Museum of Contemporary Art (designed by Alvaro Siza Vieira), where there are currently two shows looking at the work of Delhi-based photographer Dayanita Singh (until 5 May 2024) and Portuguese artist André Romão’s dreamlike, nocturnal landscapes (until 2 June 2024).
Lead image credit: Luis Moreira, Courtesy The Largo
We may earn a commission if you buy something from any affiliate links on our site.
Any Questions or Tips to add?