Sir Victor Hotel, part of Sircle Collection

The most recognizable aspect of the Sir Victor Hotel is its façade, by architect Juli Capella, where limestone panels curve open like turning pages, letting just enough sunlight — best used sparingly at these latitudes — into the guest rooms. But once you’ve stayed there, either in its current incarnation, or in its former life as Hotel Omm, you’ll remember it differently: as quite possibly Barcelona’s most calming, most meditative boutique hotel.

Its setting, just off the Passeig de Gràcia, is central, but Sir Victor’s design keeps it quiet — both literally, thanks to its rubber-lined corridors, and visually, thanks to the sedate simplicity of the design, by Baranowitz + Kronenberg. The rooms are sleek as well, but warmer, thanks to the artworks, the natural materials, and the carefully selected reading material. And while some are smallish, in general they’re impressively large — especially the 85-square-meter Sir Family Room, which sleeps up to six.

The spa is perhaps the most tranquil of Sir Victor’s spaces, and the rooftop pool bar has a view of the Sagrada Familia cathedral and Casa Milá. Mr. Porter is taking over from the Omm’s existing restaurant, Moo; and of course the immediate neighborhood, which contains Barcelona’s busiest shopping boulevard, is by no means short of dining options itself.