Blooming outwards from the banks of the Moskva River with the Kremlin at its heart, Moscow is a vast and daunting city for first time visitors. Choosing the right address to call home for the duration of your stay is paramount; a decision that will be made eminently easier from next year with the opening of Raffles Moscow.
The hotel will occupy a covetable address at the corner of Varvarka Street and Slavyanskaya Square, adjacent to Zaryadye park and a stone’s throw from the Kremlin. Architects from London-based Winch Design are working with the developer, Kievskaya Ploshchad Group, as well as the Ministry of Culture and the Department of Cultural Legacy of Moscow to create a building that is at once modern and in keeping with the historical setting, a fitting location for the first Raffles hotel in Russia.
Among the collection of 153 rooms, guests will find 20 two-bedroom suites, 19 junior suites and two opulent Presidential Suites with spacious outdoor terraces affording views across the park towards the Kremlin and St. Basil’s Cathedral. In addition to the Long Bar, a time-honoured feature at all Raffles hotels that pays tribute to the original in Singapore, Raffles Moscow will feature five restaurants, including three helmed by superstar chefs, yet to be announced, and a Ladurée bakery run by Russian restaurateur Alexander Rappoport.
An immersive spa and wellness centre will be home to an authentic Russian bath, fitness centre and a beauty salon, as well as a 25-metre swimming pool: a rare treat in this historic corner of Europe’s largest capital.
Ten kilometres away in the affluent Dorogomilovo district, a very different project is taking shape in the form of Poklonnaya 9, a 32-storey tower blending elements of neoclassicism and Art Deco design, imagined by Istanbul-based Tabanlıoğlu Architects for ANT Development. In addition to some of the most exclusive residential apartments in the city, the signature development at Kutuzovsky Prospect and Poklonnaya Hill will also be home to SO/ Moscow when complete in 2023.
Accor’s design and fashion-driven lifestyle brand will make its Russian debut with a thoroughly modern hotel in the lower floors of the building, where New York design firm Rockwell Group has taken inspiration from the world of Russian fairy tales and folklore to create colourful public spaces and guestrooms. At its crown, the top four floors of Poklonnaya 9 will feature a handful of two-storey penthouses and mezzanine villas with outdoor terraces, as well as a rooftop Club 100 boasting panoramic views of the city.
