At the corner of Antwerp's Lange Nieuwstraat, a Beaux-Arts limestone façade curves into the streetscape with the confident authority of a building that has always known its own importance — a former bank headquarters whose domed corner pavilion, wrought-iron entrance canopy, and carved stone detailing recall the era when financial institutions built for permanence. Converted and opened in 2021 as Sapphire House Antwerp, part of Marriott's Autograph Collection, the property contains 107 rooms across six floors, the building's bones left deliberately legible throughout. The interior design navigates the distance between Baroque grandeur and contemporary comfort with more agility than such conversions usually manage. The bar and lounge space preserves an original plasterwork ceiling of extraordinary elaboration — gilded acanthus and cartouches intact above circular green velvet sofas and dark marble tables, the mix landing somewhere between a fin-de-siècle salon and a well-edited contemporary hotel bar. Standard rooms take a cooler approach: powder-blue walls, deep navy headboards in upholstered velvet, walnut-framed desks and herringbone-patterned carpets in grey and white. The most atmospheric spaces are the attic rooms, where exposed timber roof trusses of considerable age arch over the same clean-lined contemporary furnishings, the contrast between centuries-old carpentry and mid-century-inflected furniture feeling entirely unforced. A central island bar with a fluted dark wood counter and an industrial brass-and-steel overhead light rig anchors the ground floor with the kind of civic confidence the building has always projected.

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Sapphire House, Autograph collection by Marriott, offers a unique blend of exceptional history and boutique design in the vibrant city centre of Antwerp.