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Barcelona has a huge amount of hotels, of every category and price
bracket. Many were converted or renovated for the Summer Olympics of
1992, often simply and without consideration for local design
traditions. The lobbies were given glass doors and marble tiles;
lounges, bars and hotel rooms were adapted to conform to
international standards. There are exceptions, however. The Hotel
Park for instance: built between 1950 and 1953 by Antoni de Morages
Gallissà in the style of an Italian Organismo, it was
cautiously restored by his son in 1990. The green-tiled bar, filled
with the organic shapes of the fifties, is a place of calm and a
halfway house. The four-star hotel Terramar in Sitges, the seaside
resort not far from Barcelona, has also been preserved in its
original form. Francisco Marcé, the architect of this early
example of terraced construction, is also the hotel proprietor and
lives on the top floor apartment today. In the pale winter sunshine
this building - one of the first grand hotels along the Spanish coast
- looks like something from outer space. The kidney-shaped swimming
pool set into the terrace presages summertime. In the hottest months,
the freshness of the bright and cool materials in the stairwell
section leading up to the 209 hotel rooms exerts a pleasant effect on
pool guests heading back to their rooms. In contrast, the hotel bar
is as opulent as a fine glass of Hennessy. Deep, upholstered leather
chairs stand in front of the bar, on the red carpet. The sweep of the
balustrade between the bar and the windows is echoed and enhanced by
small bar tables and red chairs with spindly legs, standing on a
black marble floor.
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