Hotel Topazz

Hotel Topazz Review

Opened in 2012, and already one of the top hotel showstoppers in town, the Topazz should win every design award in the book: it's an extraordinary homage to the Wiener Werkstätte style that took Vienna by storm in the early 1900s. Just imagine a cylindrical silver vase gemmed with big oval amber stones by Wiener Werkstätte design legend Koloman Moser—but ramped up to the size of a nine-story building: that's a possible first impression thanks to the façade, which is strikingly covered in giant oval-sized windows (these provide, from each guest room, an endlessly fascinating view of the world). Using the Jugendstil style, Josef Hoffmann and Dagobert Peche—two other leaders of the Wiener Werkstätte—favored geometric decoration over the sinuous curves of French Art Nouveau, and the results are on full show in the Topazz's lobby and breakfast lounge: with their suave slipper chairs and custom-made fauteuils in lavenders and off-whites, these spaces are impressive homages to Vienna's bygone "salon culture." Take the staircase or elevator (even these echo designs by Hoffmann) to the guest rooms, which are the height of sophistication: cool, plushless, with mahogany paneling, and steely gray furnishings. Throughly 21st century are the creature comforts: minibars, free Wi-Fi, and HD TVs in every room. As literati and designers love this hotel you may find it "booked," so head across the street to its larger sister hotel, the Lamée (opens early 2013).