Quirk Hotel Richmond

Sometimes a hotel is just a place for travelers to sleep and eat. (We tend to ignore those ones.) Other times, a hotel performs on other levels: as a showcase for creative talent, as a meeting place for locals, as a celebration of regional history. Quirk Hotel, in Richmond, Virginia, hits all of these marks. This stylish new boutique hotel was born out of Quirk Gallery, a mainstay in the city’s downtown arts district. Anticipating the potential of this recently revitalized neighborhood, the gallerist and her husband snapped up a century-old landmark that used to be a department store, transforming he Italian Renaissance-style building into a cool boutique hotel that shows off the work of some of the city’s best artists, makers, designers, and chefs.

Take the beds in the hotel’s 75 guest rooms: the frames were custom-made with reclaimed wood from the building’s original beams. The beer on tap at the stylish lobby eatery was locally brewed; the coffee bar features roasts created for Quirk by a nearby coffee shop. The hotel is filled with original artworks by local painters and sculptors. It stands to reason that the architects preserved much of the eight-story building’s original grandeur, including the maple floors, limestone archways, floor-to-ceiling windows, and vaulted ceilings. But the design aesthetic is more sixties mod than twenties glamour: guest rooms are pale pink, outfitted with vintage-inspired pieces like old-school clock radios and wood-paneled dressers.

Up on the rooftop is Quirk Hotel’s crowning glory. A rooftop bar is something of a rarity in Richmond, so it attracts as many locals as guests. And that’s the idea of the hotel: to celebrate Richmond’s thriving arts scene, and to bring that local community together with the out-of-towners staying the night. Regardless of where you’re from, it’s an ideal venue for catching a breeze on a warm evening, cocktail in hand. That mint in your drink was locally grown — but we probably didn’t have to tell you that.