Review of Hotel Rialto, by Vijai Maheshwari

Housed in a triangular, Art Deco building that flows over two perpendicular streets in down-town Warsaw, the elegant Hotel Rialto brilliantly captures the geometric hedonism of Viennese style in the 1930s. From the giant, kaleidoscopic stained glass chandelier in the mezzanine to the sensual sculptures and whorl-like inlays in the wooden cabinets in the reception, the design hotel is a loving paean to Art Deco in its prime. Even the staff seem like minor characters from a Rainer Maria Rilke poem with their long black tail coats and starched white shirts.

Though Warsaw & Art Deco aren’t linked in our imaginations – as Prague & Vienna are – the city did have its brief flirtation with the Mittel European movement in the 20s. The Hotel Bristol, a temple to Art Deco, was the social centre of Warsaw in the roaring twenties. (It’s often mentioned in Nobel Prize-winning writer Isaac Bashevik Singer’s novels). Rialto then, whose clientèle include media & advertising types, can be seen as the post-Communist heir to the Bristol, lovingly preserving a style that has all but disappeared elsewhere in Warsaw, which was almost completely levelled during the war. 

Coming into the hotel after walking through the city’s relentlessly modern streets is immediately soothing. Who wouldn’t want to have an aperitif in their sensual dining room, with its gilted mirrors, coral-backed chairs, stylishly-nude etchings, and recessed conical lamps? With big-band 20s jazz in the background, while you sip from a Martini glass cut like an inverted pyramid, it’s possible to vicariously relive the glory of a lost era. The cosy cigar bar and library next door is the kind of place one would imagine Sigmund Freud holing himself up in. 

The compact rooms are a continuation of this theme, boasting a master craftsman’s attention to detail. The antique brass door knobs, mirrors partly encased by copper railings, graphite light switches, erotic portraits, and numerous other details, make the rooms feel like a film set for a period piece. Aside from the high-backed chairs & rectangular couches, there’s enough triangles, hexagons, and various other polygonal shapes to flatter the geek inside us all. It’s the modern bathroom, wi-fi (which is a bit hard to configure) and large dormer windows looking out onto Warsaw’s skyscrapers that bring us back to the present. Not to mention the mini-bar, round-the-clock room service, and swank gym and sauna in the basement.

Rialto boasts a few designer suites that are worth mentioning. The Big Apple suite captures the pizazz of New York’s roaring twenties, while the African room pays homage to early European fascination with the dark continent, and includes an authentic zebra skin carpet. Now, who wouldn’t want to be surrounded by sub-Saharan luxury during Warsaw’s cold, grey winters?