At Brach Madrid, Philippe Starck’s Vision of Grand Romance and Glamour
Original artwork, emblems of Spanish culture, and antique curios adorn the richly appointed property, which is in the midst of its first summer season.
On Offer: For the 57-room property, which occupies a historic structure on Madrid’s dazzling Gran Vía, French architect and designer Philippe Starck pulled inspiration from the site’s history. In the 19th century, it was home to the Palacio de Masserano, where Victor Hugo lived during his childhood. Later it housed the studios of the Alfonsos, a family of photojournalists who chronicled decades of transformation and unrest in the city’s streets. It’s this vision of artistic expression and subversion—synonymous with Madrid’s historic cafe culture—that permeates Brach’s ground-floor restaurant, bar, and patisserie. “For the public spaces, I wanted to recreate the spirit and energy of Madrid in the 1920s and 1930s, the grand café where artists met, created, exchanged ideas, and organized resistance to political oppression,” Starck tells Surface.
Warm wood paneling and glossy glazed Spanish tiles set the mood at the hotel’s restaurant, where chef Adam Bentalha’s Mediterranean-inflected menu offers hearty mains like Iberico rib steak with mojo verde sauce, octopus plated with smoked eggplant and sobrasada, and fried anchovies that will disappear virtually as soon as they hit the table. For dessert, look no further than the selection of house-made pastries from the hotel’s patisserie; their reputation has spread quickly since the hotel opened earlier this year, and they draw locals and hotel guests alike.
A curious diner’s eye will land on the restaurant’s considerable art collection, within which the property’s next chapter begins to unfold. “[Artists] would often pay for their drinks with their own paintings that would remain on the walls,” says Starck. “This is the idea behind the art collection in the restaurant. We tracked down the paintings on display by leafing through auction catalogues every day for three years.”
Standout Features: Starck’s warm approach to interiors unfolds across accommodations that evoke warmth and a distinct sense of place. The intentionally sourced art collection is rounded out by artifacts like a flamenco guitar, handwritten letters, and sculptures that tell the story of a Spanish couple whose romance, travels, and love for culture are at the center of Starck’s vision for the property. The overall effect, bolstered by touches like the soft diffusion of light from an ornately carved seahorse wall sconce and a captivatingly intricate glazed terracotta bathroom mirror, is more akin to staying in the guest cottage of a well-traveled friend.
La Capsule, the hotel’s spa, is its crown jewel. In a city whose denizens are famously well-coiffed, La Capsule gives the weary traveler every opportunity to step back out into the city looking and feeling refreshed. After dropping their bags upstairs, they can immediately begin to counteract post-flight fatigue and swelling with a 30 to 60 minute session in the spa’s onsite hyperbaric chamber. While La Capsule offers massages and facials for up to 90 minutes, the time-pressed traveler might be more inclined to next opt for a custom 60-minute lymphatic drainage massage and facial. Practitioners use skincare products from MyBlend, a technology-driven luxury brand under the Clarins umbrella, that, in combination with lymphatic therapy, sculpts and revitalizes.
