Viterbo Interior Design Revives Hotel Albatroz in Cascais, Portugal

Hotel Albatroz has been centuries in the making. The boutique seaside property in Cascais, Portugal, started out in the early 1900s as a grand residence built for the Lancastre family, its architecture a blend of Italian, Moorish, neo-Gothic, and neo-Manueline styles. In the 1940s it was converted into an inn, hosting such bold names as Ava Gardner, Cary Grant, and Rudolf Nureyev as they vacationed on what’s called the Portuguese Riviera. The 51-key hotel was expanded and redesigned in the 1980s by Viterbo Interior Design, then headed by Graça Viterbo. Now it has just unveiled its latest renovation, and it’s by Gracinha Viterbo, the firm partner and creative director and Graca’s daughter. “I have recollections of coming here with my mother when I was very young,” she says, “which has helped me bridge the project’s past and present.” That translates to preserving such original details as the hand-carved banisters and pairing them with new yet historically inspired elements like the bar’s mirrors that nod to Portuguese wicker baskets and striking cerulean tilework. Adds Viterbo: “There are blue hues for days.”