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The Editory Artist Baixa Porto Hotel
Porto, Portugal · Editory · Accessible Luxury
A royal steam hat factory in the nineteenth century, then from 1927 the Escola Artística Soares dos Reis, this Rua da Firmeza building reopened as a hotel in April 2014 and still works as a school. Students from Porto's hospitality college run the desk, the B'Artist bar and the restaurant alongside a head chef, and more than 150 works of art hang through the seventeen rooms and corridors, some made by Soares dos Reis pupils from 1955 onward.
- 17 rooms
- Opened 2014
- Neighborhood: Baixa
About The Editory Artist Baixa Porto Hotel
- Around 330 students rotated through the hotel in its first year alone, and four of them were hired onto the permanent team.
- The restaurant is called A Escola and serves surprise tasting menus rather than an a la carte list, cooked by the students with the chef.
History
The building on Rua da Firmeza housed the Real e Imperial Chapelaria a Vapor, a royal and imperial steam hat works, in the nineteenth century. In 1927 it passed to the Escola Artística Soares dos Reis, one of Portugal's best-known art schools, and stayed in its hands for decades. Sonae Turismo converted it into a hotel in partnership with the neighbouring Escola de Hotelaria e Turismo do Porto, and it opened on 10 April 2014 as The Artist Porto Hotel & Bistro, with 17 rooms and suites, a meeting room, a lounge, a restaurant and the B'Artist bar.
The point of the place is that it is a working hotel school: students from the hospitality college train here in real service conditions, supervised by permanent staff. In its first year the hotel took almost 7,000 guests and about 330 students passed through, four of whom were then hired. More than 150 works of art hang through the building, among them pieces produced by Soares dos Reis pupils from 1955 onward, and the early cultural programme was run jointly with the art school and the Porto music conservatory. The house now trades as The Editory Artist Baixa under Sonae's Editory Collection brand, with the surprise-menu restaurant A Escola.
The setting
Rua da Firmeza runs along the eastern edge of Porto's Baixa, a few minutes uphill from the Bolhão market and the shops of Santa Catarina but off the through routes, which is why the street stays quiet at night. The hospitality school that supplies the hotel's staff is next door. From here it is roughly ten minutes on foot to Avenida dos Aliados and the Café Majestic, fifteen down to São Bento station and its tiled atrium, and a longer descent to the Douro at Ribeira.
Amenities
- Plenary Meeting Room with natural light
- AV material
- Technical flooring
- Wireless internet
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