The Fife Arms

A visually stunning and personal guided tour of the remarkable interiors of one of the world’s most exquisite hotels

Art-world superstars Iwan and Manuela Wirth saw the poetry in a run-down hotel nestled in the depths of the Scottish Highlands, not far from Balmoral Castle, and utterly transformed it.

Every inch of The Fife Arms’s interior has been imaginatively and intelligently considered in the context of place with each room telling the story of a person, event, or theme, connected to its Braemar location.

Intensely atmospheric images explore the hotel’s specially commissioned artworks - Zhang Enli’s ceiling mural in the drawing room; Subodh Gupta’s sculpture for the Fire Room; Guillermo Kuitca’s wall mural in the Clunie Dining Room - as well as works by Louise Bourgeois, Pablo Picasso, Man Ray, and HRH Queen Victoria

This is an updated edition of the first book to be created about this lavish, darkly beautiful destination hotel. The Fife Arms reveals its beauty in intricate detail, from the bespoke wallpaper and soft furnishings to the remarkable art on its walls. The book includes stunning new photography of recently acquired artworks, including Picasso’s Tête de Femme and Keith Tyson’s Still Life with Stars and Antlers.

With archive images of the hotel as well as specially commissioned photographs of the people involved, the beautiful interiors and the stunning Scottish Highlands, this is a must-have for readers fascinated by luxury interiors and traditional hotels as well as for design and art enthusiasts and travel lovers.

Dominic Bradbury is a writer and freelance journalist specialising in architecture and design. He has written many books on these themes including the Atlas of Mid-Century Modern Masterpieces, the Atlas of Mid-Century Modern Houses and the Atlas of Interior Design, all published by Phaidon, as well as a number of architectural monographs. He also contributes to many newspapers and magazines in the UK, US, and internationally, including The Times, Financial Times, Wallpaper*, House & Garden, and Galerie.

Hauser & Wirth was founded in 1992 in Zurich by Iwan Wirth, Manuela Wirth, and Ursula Hauser and has expanded to include outposts in London, New York, Somerset, Los Angeles, Hong Kong, Gstaad, St. Moritz and Menorca. The Fife Arms is their first hotel, and like all of the Wirths ventures is embedded in the heritage and traditions of its local culture.