Four stylish city escapes

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Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.

Egypt’s capital keeps it cool

One of the most interesting ways to experience Cairo these days is through a stay at Immobilia Residence, the fully serviced apartments located on the top floors of the building of the same name. An art deco landmark in the centre of the city’s perennially busy and buzzy Downtown district, this is not your mother’s (boss’s, snoozy neighbour’s) luxury accommodation: the entrance keeps it bracingly real, flickering lights, rickety lifts and all. The apartments, which range from one to three bedrooms, are delightful, offering interiors that mix contemporary art with antiques from across the Maghreb and the Levant.

The majordomo used to work at the American embassy; the chefs are some of the best private ones in the city. Now the owners have created The Immobilia in a 450sq m double-height space a few floors down, which used to house the Mobil Oil HQ in the mid-20th century. Three private suites adjoin an open living-working-dining area, which functions as public spaces for residents. A fourth accommodation will be earmarked for artists keen on stays of a few weeks or more. Lunch and dinner are served for residents of both suites and apartments; menus mix western and Egyptian classic dishes, and change daily based on what’s fresh at the market. It’s a non-club club for the Cairo-curious, with more style than you’ll find outside of the Al Moudira Hotel in Luxor (which this team also happens to own and operate). 

Georgia’s new antebellum style

Savannah, Georgia’s (some might say the South’s) most atmospheric city, is a grid of history. One tall, slender Second Empire townhouse follows another along its famous antebellum streets, among which East Oglethorpe Avenue – wide, shady, canopied by old oaks draped in Spanish moss – is a grandee. The 16-room Douglas opened here in July, in a townhouse whose historically faithful restoration was a group project undertaken by three preservationist architects. It is run by the owners of the Charleston area’s best restaurants, Wild Olive and The Obstinate Daughter (the South Carolina town is one of the US’s most exciting food destinations, and Obstinate Hospitality is at the apex of its scene).

The Douglas is still a house, complete with parlour, drawing room and kitchen; there are complimentary, help-yourself minibars on each landing, rather than in each room, full of cocktails and wines and stocked with small-plate snacks each evening. The taste level throughout is impeccable, quiet American style done in colours and textures that fall between sombre and sexy. In a few months’ time, The Douglas will add six more rooms in an adjacent building, as well as a full-service restaurant, Lester’s, to be run by Wild Olive chef Jacques Larson, a two-time James Beard nominee.

16th-century chic alla Fiorentina

From the designer of dozens of Ferragamo boutiques comes a stylish hotel in the centre of Florence. James Cavagnari, the English-born founder of architecture and interiors studio Prima Design, has turned one of his childhood homes into The James Suite Hotel 1564. The number is a nod to the year the palazzo, located in the Via di Mezzo and not far from the city’s beloved Sant’Ambrogio market, was built. The 14 suites hold an impressive array of multi-period antiques, and the hotel houses a mahogany mobile wardrobe that once belonged to the late Queen Elizabeth II; but the slick lines of the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s are well represented too, along with a very un-timid array of velvets, leathers, glossy surfaces and ornate chandeliers. The compact but lush restaurant favours rattan in exotic shapes and lots of potted palms, and serves modern Mediterranean food.

Manhattan polish in the Lion City

The St Regis Singapore is fresh off a total renovation, including a clutch of new eating and drinking venues, making it, finally, a hotel with the looks and socialising appeal to match its location, which has always been one of the city’s best: Orchard Road’s starry retail and dining destinations can be found two blocks in one direction, the 183 lush acres of the city’s Botanic Gardens three in the other.

The formerly fusty rooms (the gold-tassel, red-velvet design scheme hadn’t been updated since the hotel opened in 2008) are all low-key glamour now, with pale parquet floors, low curving sofas and sleek stone and marble bathrooms. The tea salon downstairs, a favourite for locals, has also had a glow-up, and the brand-new Astor Bar is pleasingly dim, dark-panelled and tryst-friendly.

@mariashollenbarger