Nobis Hotel Copenhagen – a concert hall turned One-Key address

Nobis Hotel Copenhagen occupies a 5,500 square metre landmark on Niels Brocks Gade, close enough to Tivoli Gardens, Copenhagen Central Station and City Hall Square to make a taxi from the airport feel almost unnecessary. The building dates from 1903, one of the first concrete structures raised in the Danish capital, and for thirty-six years it was something far less glamorous than a hotel: a conservatory of music, with lockers in the lobby and auditions held in what is now its finest suite. Since opening as a hotel, the house has been reworked by the Swedish architect Gert Wingårdh, who laid Scandinavian restraint over Danish neoclassicism without erasing either. The MICHELIN Guide recognises the result with one Key. It is a hotel that trades on a very specific kind of memory – marble stairs worn down by generations of students' hurried footsteps, ceilings built for acoustics rather than air conditioning – reset for travellers who want that history with a Dyson hairdryer and a Nyetimber nightcap.

01The house

The building was erected in 1903 to a design by Martin Borch, the Royal Surveyor of Copenhagen from 1903 to 1923, and counts among the city's earliest concrete structures. From 1972 until 2008 it housed the Royal Danish Academy of Music; the reception area was once a small glass cubicle where students queued each morning to be assigned a practice room, and the lobby was lined with coat hangers rather than check-in desks.

The main staircase guests climb today is the exact same marble staircase as it was during this time, and during the academy's annual Christmas gala it became a stage in its own right: an orchestra gathered at its foot while carol singers filled the stairwell floor by floor. The high ceilings that now give the rooms their sense of scale were originally prized for acoustics – the Nobis Suite began life as a small concert hall and audition room, the top-floor areas belonged to violin and cello students, and the basement was given over to the percussionists.

The building was acquired by the Swedish property company Balder in 2015, with the architectural firm AI subsequently responsible for adapting it for use as a hotel, which opened in 2017. Wingårdhs, already known in Nobis Hospitality Group's portfolio for its work on Miss Clara Hotel in Stockholm, led the interior design throughout.

02Rooms and suites

The 75 rooms are arranged across the full range of a working conservatory turned hotel: 38 double Superior rooms, 10 Loft rooms on the third floor, 14 Deluxe rooms, 10 Junior Suites and three Suites. Chevron oak floors, steel-framed four-poster beds with Dux mattresses and bathrooms clad in grey Bardiglio marble from Italy run through every category, with Kasthall rugs from Sweden underfoot.

Insider tip

Book ahead for the Nobis Suite's included NOI dinner; courtyard seating is seasonal.

At the top of the hierarchy, the Nobis Suite measures 91 square metres with a 4.65 metre ceiling and a view towards the Glyptotek, occupying room 210 on the second floor, which once functioned as a small concert room for the Royal Danish Music Conservatory and was used for student auditions. Inside, Swedese armchairs and a dining table seating six sit beneath ornate plasterwork, with a bedroom area screened by a cabinet holding wooden toys from famed Danish designer Kay Bojesen.

The two Penthouse Suites cover 98 square metres on the fourth floor, built over two levels with a private lift and views across Copenhagen's rooftops towards the Glyptotek, Tivoli and City Hall Square. Every room and suite includes Byredo toiletries, a Marshall Bluetooth speaker, 24-hour room service and free access to the hotel's bikes and wellness area.

03Where to eat

Restaurant NOI occupies the ground floor beneath Wingårdh's lighting and detailing, serving dishes built on European influences and the best available local ingredients. The kitchen runs lunch daily from midday and dinner into the evening, with a chambre separée available for private dinners for guests who want the historic building's grandeur without an audience.

Breakfast is a buffet of cold cuts, pastries, eggs and fresh fruit, with juices pressed to order and a wide tea list – served Monday to Friday from 06:30 to 10:30 and at weekends from 08:00. Suite guests can take it in the room instead, a quieter echo of the slow mornings the brochure promises above the rooftops of Vesterbro.

04The bar

The Marble Bar sits alongside NOI, wrapped in Italian marble and Nordic furniture, and pours everything from reinvented classics to vintage Champagne and ice-cold local beer. It runs daily from 17:00 to midnight, the natural point in the evening where dinner guests drift from one room to the next without stepping outside.

In the warmer months the hotel's courtyard opens for al fresco cocktails and dining, a quieter corner shielded from Vesterbro's traffic yet only a few strides from the lobby's grand staircase.

05Spa and wellbeing

The relaxation area tucked into the historic building is built around a cold-water plunge pool, a contemporary sauna and a hot-stone marble hammam, backed by a fitness room for guests who would rather work off the NOI tasting menu than simply steam it away. Access is complimentary for anyone staying in the hotel.

Beyond the building itself, Nobis arranges a chauffeured limousine service and private styling for guests who want the finish of a tailored Copenhagen without doing the legwork, along with bike rental for those who would rather find the city at street level.

06The neighbourhood

Few hotels in Copenhagen can claim a more decisive address: the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, with its winter garden and Rodin bronzes, stands directly across the street, and Tivoli Gardens – one of the oldest amusement parks still operating anywhere in the world – is a two-minute walk away. Copenhagen Central Station sits close enough for an early train to Malmö or Aarhus without troubling the concierge.

In the other direction, the harbourfront and the Danish Architecture Center inside the BLOX building are a short walk, making the hotel a genuine hinge between Vesterbro's restaurant streets and the civic grandeur of City Hall Square.

07Making the most of a stay

The concierge desk is run by Kasper Poulsen, a member of Les Clefs d'Or, who is worth engaging before arrival for restaurant bookings during Copenhagen's busier festival weekends or for arranging the limousine transfer from the airport rather than a standard taxi.

Ask for a room on the upper floors if the building's history matters to you – the former percussion basement and the violin-and-cello floors are easy to overlook on a booking chart, but staff will usually confirm which wing a room sits in if you ask when reserving.

For a weekend. For a lifetime.