Sanderson

Class: First

Style: Cutting edge

Rooms: 150

Though a rated historical building, the sixties office block that housed the Sanderson fabrics company is not the most elegant facade for a stylish boutique hotel. Fortunately the interiors find Starck and Schrager in rare form, raising their game a bit to stand out in this most competitive of hotel markets. Though constrained a bit by the building’s landmark status (right down to the name, which was the path of least resistance considering the old Sanderson sign had to stay) they have created what may be their partnership’s most urbane and elegant environment yet.

Guest rooms are open plan, with that favorite of Starck tricks, the panoptical bathroom — be prepared to know your traveling companion very well indeed by the end of the stay. But though the layout may be hypermodern, the furnishings themselves provide some historical grounding, including sleigh beds and ceiling-mounted oil paintings, as well as rugs patterned after enlargements of Voltaire’s letters. The result is no less whimsical than the typical Starck room, though perhaps a bit more subtle in execution, and the details save the all-white scheme from bordering on the clinical.

Downstairs, though, all bets are off, from the Dali-inspired red-lipped sofa to the glowing onyx Long Bar to the Agua Bathhouse, which crosses over into the Kubrickian all-white territory where the guest rooms feared to tread. Don’t fret, though, it’s perfectly relaxing, as long as you’re thinking of heaven (the designer’s intent) rather than A Clockwork Orange. The SUKA restaurant serves a Malaysian-European fusion at long communal tables and out on the garden terrace. Any Schrager venture strives to be the place to be seen — the Sanderson is no different, and, as usual, it succeeds.