Kimpton Palladian Hotel

Kimpton’s quiet domination of the American boutique-hotel scene — especially the West Coast — continues apace. The Palladian, the group’s fourth hotel in Seattle, adds a lively, urban, yet decidedly Northwestern edge to a classic building in Belltown, just north of downtown. And a sense of humor, too: the designer, the San Francisco–based Nicole Hollis, plays up the contrast between the cultural expectations of the contemporary audience and the building’s slightly off-kilter century-old glamour — the bathrooms are both subtly modern and vaguely Victorian, and your bed will come with a pillowcase portrait of one or another American celebrity (David Bowie, Bill Murray) done up like a Napoleonic hero.

Some Kimpton traditions are included as a matter of course, and the Palladian is the better for them — the Social Hour, where local wines, spirits and beers flow freely — comes immediately to mind. There’s also the can-do spirit of the service staff, and the inclusive, rather than exclusive, atmosphere. And most important in today’s Seattle is a restaurant and a bar that can hold their own against the fruits of the city’s culinary/cocktail explosion. Shaker + Spear wisely focuses on Northwest seafood and local produce, and Pennyroyal, the bar, offers an encyclopedic list of spirits as well as an inspired selection of small plates.