Occupying a 15th-century palazzo on the Grand Canal, the legendary Gritti Palace hotel has long been the preferred Venetian perch for international cultural royalty. Following an exquisite restoration by designer Chuck Chewning, the Gritti is rejuvenated—and more luxurious than ever. A Luxury Collection hotel, sits majestically on Venice’s Grand Canal. Following structural upgrades by architect Gretchen Alexander Harnischfeger, designer and Donghia creative director Chuck Chewning masterminded a top-to-bottom interior renovation.
Nineteenth-century blackamoor lamps flank the entrance.
A Baroque church altar rail still serves as the front desk, while the lobby floors were relaid with new marble.
A 19th-century copy of Titian’s portrait of the Venetian doge Andrea Gritti graces the Explorer’s Library, which is filled with old navigational instruments and books on discovery.
Chewning clad the library’s walls in a Rubelli damask and mingled Donghia furnishings—the sofas and cocktail table—with the hotel’s antiques.
The Bar Longhi—named after the 18th-century genre painter Pietro Longhi, three of whose works hang there—has new custom-designed Donghia furniture, including lounge chairs covered in a Rubelli brocatelle as well as tables.
Stools in a Rubelli faux leather are pulled up to the bar, which is made of a Baroque marble altar rail. The Gritti Palace.
The magnificent hand-painted ceiling beams in the dining room are antique, but the terrazzo floor is new, modeled after the Apollo Room in the nearby Palazzo Pisani Moretta; the brocade on the walls and the brocatelle on the antique chairs are both by Rubelli, and the antique sconces are Venetian.
The hotel’s premier suites are named for either famous guests or local landmarks and traditions. In the Hemingway Suite, many of the furnishings predate the renovation, including the Murano chandelier, the vintage mirror, the 18th-century walnut secretary, and the antique Venetian gilded chairs, which were reupholstered in a Rubelli brocade; the curtain fabrics are also by Rubelli, while the cocktail table and carpet are Donghia designs, the latter made by Luke Irwin.
The room’s bed features an antique headboard and is dressed in Frette linens with a throw and pillows of Rubelli fabrics; the chairs and ottoman are antique, and the paintings are Venetian scenes.
Arrayed on the walls of the Peggy Guggenheim Suite are artworks intended to evoke the collector’s taste; the sofa is a copy of one that was in her Palazzo Venier dei Leoni (now the Peggy Guggenheim Collection museum).
A Joan Miró etching (top center) overlooks the sitting area.
The sculptural antiqued-mirror valances in the suite were designed by Donghia; a framed 1960s Hermès scarf hangs above the bed, and vintage Fornasetti plates are displayed between the windows.
A Donghia light is suspended above the tub, which is equipped with Dornbracht fittings.
The bath is sheathed in Cremo Tirreno marble.
The Donghia Suite, an homage to decorator Angelo Donghia, the firm’s founder, features a silver-leafed ceiling, Venetian-stucco walls, and a bleached-and-lacquered herringbone floor. The chandelier and seating are all by Donghia; the two large paintings, of the Chrysler Building, are by Bobo Ivancich.
A view from the Pisani Suite’s bedroom across to its lounge, where an antique Sicilian majolica bust is displayed atop an antique bureau; throughout the suite, exquisite foliate moldings form cartouches that are painted in contrasting colors and inset with artworks and decorative objects.
The John Ruskin Suite’s vivid floral wall covering is offset by its striped curtains; all fabrics, including the velvet on the Napoléon III chaise longue, are by Rubelli.
A 19th-century beamed ceiling distinguishes the Punta della Dogana Suite, whose sitting area is furnished with a Donghia-designed table and chairs; the curtains are of a Rubelli damask.
In the bedroom—lined in a Rubelli stripe—hand-colored Venetian etchings overlook the antique bed and bench; the Murano lamps (with Fortuny-fabric shades) are new.
The Redentore Terrazza Suite’s spacious roof terrace—a rarity on the Grand Canal—offers incomparable views of the magnificent Basilica di Santa Maria della Salute and the rest of Venice; the furnishings include armchairs by Dedon.
Adam Gopnik | Björn Wallander | Howard Christian. (Source http://www.architecturaldigest.com)