The family-run Majó Grau Group has opened its first boutique hotel in Barcelona’s ancient city center on the faded, albeit famous, Plaça Reial. Dubbed Hotel DO, the hotel group is calling it a “Boutique Gastronomic Hotel” featuring “localvore” foods sourced within a couple hundred miles of Barcelona.

Set in a neoclassical building from 1856, the hotel’s façade has not been modified and melds with the stately homes encircling the plaza. Within its historic walls architect Oriol Bohigas created DO’s inner frame and Lázaro Rosa Violán took care of the rich interior design. “It was a challenge to integrate the spiral staircase into the lobby and other spaces and to convert it into the true heart of the hotel,” explains Rosa Violán, who struggled with the invasive nature of the building’s corkscrew stairs which core its center.

Despite his trials, Rosa Violán created interiors that are both cozy and cultivated at once. Sweet details fill the hotel like gray flooring tiles taken from the group’s Majó Grau property turned into decorative wall tiles in restaurant La Cuina and the suites. “We designed all the furniture and lighting fixtures in studio and then had them made in workshops in Spain, Italy, Denmark, and France,” explains Rosa Violán.

Plaça Reial or the Ramblas are viewed from DO’s 15 rooms and three suites, filled with eclectic furniture like four poster beds and modern artwork. The highlight of the property though is El Terrat, DO’s signature suite located on the top floor featuring a patio boasting a private plunge pool lined in Spanish tiles.