Gerbermuhle

Class: First

Style: Cutting edge

Rooms: 18

Some of the best contemporary-design hotels are renovations of existing buildings. But few start with structures as storied as Frankfurt’s Gerbermühle. This 16th-century flour mill had a second or third life as a local businessman’s summer house, where Goethe met his Marianne — and now it begins a fourth or a fifth, as a stunningly up-to-date boutique hotel, enclosed within a classic shell.

It’s unexpected for Frankfurt, a city perhaps better known for its skyscrapers. The interior, however, is perfectly suited to this fast-paced financial center. Public spaces are contemporary, mixing the clean lines and hard surfaces of modernism with some judiciously selected antique-style furnishings. And the style of the guest rooms is softened a bit, for easier living — still sharp and contemporary, with a predominance of white, but eclectic, warmer and more livable than the stark minimalism of the usual design boutique.

The Tower Bar serves drinks in the tower of the old mill, a high-ceilinged space with an antique atmosphere. Weather permitting, though, the heart of the Gerbermühle is unquestionably the summer garden, a tented outdoor space alongside the River Main — perfect for a meal in the sun or just a moment of quiet in a bustling modern city.