(urbanatomy.com)
Updated: 2008-05-14 13:53

Down a narrow, tumbledown hutong, a huge lipstick-red door set into a grey brick wall announces your arrival at Hotel Cote Cour SL. From there, a cheongsam-clad bell boy escorts you into the sunny courtyard and all thoughts of the outside world are forgotten.

Ming dynasty meets Vogue Livingat this 500-year-old hutong residence now transformed into a 14-room boutique hotel. Fashionable owner Shauna Liu spent eight years as an investment banker in Hong Kong before returning to her hometown of Beijing. As well as having a sharp mind for numbers, Liu has an artistic streak: she dabbles in painting and design, speaks French and studied at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris. Yet all the while, she secretly dreamed of playing host at her own little pensione.

When a family friend mentioned that a hutong property had come on the market in a protected area of Old Beijing, Liu paid a visit on a whim. The building was utterly decrepit, but sizeable, and, according to Liu, had a "magical feel". Liu then tallied the figures, and rolled her eyes at the financial folly of investing in a small hotel. Nevertheless, she bought the property and disappeared for six months. To realize her dream, Liu studied and mastered the art of ancient plumbing, and got her hands dirty planting wisteria and grape vines in the garden.

"I didn't tell my friends because I knew they would try to talk me out of it," Liu says. "I have 14 rooms and 15 fulltime staff. People with an investment background just wouldn't do this. I'm doing it totally out of passion."

Cote Cour is French for 'garden view'. It's also the name of the royal box at the theater, a fitting allusion considering that Yanyue Hutong, where the hotel is situated, was once the rehearsal and living quarters of actors and dancers of the emperor's court during the Ming dynasty.

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