Boundary Shoreditch

As the outer frontier of London’s high-end hospitality world has expanded to the east, neighborhoods like Shoreditch, known for their arts and creative-world connections, have become home to hotels as luxurious as anything in the West End. Boundary Shoreditch, created by the eminent Sir Terence Conran, was one of the first — and, in the best boutique-hotel style, it offers more to its neighborhood than just a lodging.

With three restaurants serving its twelve rooms and five suites, Boundary London has got the ratio just about right — one a proper fine dining establishment; one a vista-rich rooftop grill, protected from the weather and open year-round; and one a bakery and “caff,” open from eight in the morning until late in the evening, providing fuel for your daily expeditions. Shoreditch is gallery central, home to some innovative small retail, and the ever-increasing density of restaurants and bars shows why three is the right number for Boundary.

Eventually, however, it’s off to bed, and the rooms make a mockery of the cramped quarters familiar from central London — the standard rooms feature genuine elbow room, and the suites are positively spacious. You wouldn’t call it typical luxury living, quite, though not for any lack of comfort; it’s just that the design is utterly contemporary, with rooms in several distinct styles, from Bauhaus to Shaker to mod-British. And the building is, quietly, a bit of a marvel — luxe touches like radiant underfloor heating accompany green measures, including a borehole drawing cooling water from the subterranean aquifer. From here you can see the future.