The Qvest

The Qvest is a hotel in Cologne, Germany, occupying a neo-Gothic building completed in 1897. It contains thirty-four rooms and suites, each arranged differently within the historic structure. Friedrich Carl Heimann, Mohr and Brugger designed the building for Cologne’s city archives and public library. Ribbed vaults, lancet windows, hood mouldings and tracery preserve its original vertical character.

The building survived the bombings of the Second World War, leaving many architectural details intact. Michael Kaune and Rolf Kursawe later combined that fabric with mid-century furniture and lighting. Pieces by Mies van der Rohe, Le Corbusier, the Eameses, Arne Jacobsen and Eileen Gray shape the interiors. Curated works by Fuchs, Holz and Kern accompany design books and illustration volumes throughout the rooms.

An attached chapel now serves as a photo gallery and a setting for vegan-friendly breakfast. Upstairs, the Bauhaus Bar Tecta adds another modern layer to the former institutional building. Black bathroom tiles recall the Paris Metro, while black Belgian marble sills and 1930s Hermès mirrors add smaller design details. Hand-carved oak floors and fourteenth-century ceiling murals lead back to the building’s deeper history, while the lobby rises beneath a vaulted ceiling about six metres high.