The Pinch Charleston

Just off King and George, in the very heart of Charleston, South Carolina, two historic Victorian-era structures and one contemporary one have been joined together to create the Pinch, a 22-room luxury boutique hotel that’s as stylish as anything in town — and possibly more comfortable. The interiors take some of their cues from the Victorian inspiration granted by the buildings’ heritage — from bold patterned wallpapers to period architectural ornaments — and update them with a modern color sense and an eclectic taste in furnishings and artworks.

The rooms and suites go a bit beyond the boutique-hotel norm when it comes to the nuts and bolts of hospitality — they come with in-room laundry facilities as well as full kitchens, and a grocery service is available. There’s contemporary art everywhere, and the public spaces are just as impressive as the rooms, but a little more lively, which is sensible, given their function. Speaking of which, two more rather essential common spaces are set to open imminently: the Quinte, a restaurant and bar on the hotel’s ground floor specializing in oysters and other seafood, and the Pinch Restaurant, set in its own freestanding 19th-century neoclassical-style house.