In winter, we’re happy with a fireplace to gather ’round and thick duvets to crawl under at night. For inspiration this week, we’re looking to alpine cultures, where the cold season is not just lived through but embraced.
It’s in Austria that we stumbled what might be the platonic ideal of cold-weather dwellings: small, snug chalets at Peterhof, now in its fourth generation of ownership. Here, the Schmid family operates a clean-lined, world-class restaurant along with 10 petite chalets for private let, each thoroughly modern with nods to classic mountainside design. Crucially, each includes a sauna and hot tub for warming up.
Take a look inside:
Above: Peterhof was first opened in Zwischenwasser, Austria in 1954 as an alpine inn on the grounds of an old farm. Some 67 years later, in 2021, the retreat was transformed into a modern shingled cluster of buildings—the restaurant and 10 chalets—that is, as they say, a “village within a village.” Above: “Whilst planning and during the building of the project, we were always careful to treat the natural surroundings with the respect it deserves,” according to architecture firm Baumschlager Eberle. The resulting dwellings are incredibly simple in silhouette, clad entirely in larch shingles, with a welcoming glow inside. Above: The interiors of each chalet are done in silver fir. “The consistent use of wood was an essential premise of the project,” according to the Peterhof website. “To do justice to the horizon of Alpe Furx, panoramic windows allow framed views overlooking the peaks of Rätikon, Alpstein, the Rhine Valley, and the Petrus and Paulus Chapel.” Above: The centerpiece of each dwelling is a wood-burning fireplace, which adds heat and also acts as a clever room divider. (A daily delivery of wood is included in each stay.) Above: An efficient kitchenette runs along one wall, with shou sugi ban-esque cabinets and matte black counters. Above: A dining nook is tucked on the far side of the fireplace.
Above: The view to the second level. Above: Each chalet is equipped with a Finnish sauna or a bio-sauna, a modern, more humid alternative to traditional saunas, and an “open-air wooden bathtub” on the deck. Above: “The careful handling of the floor, the relationships between the houses, formal beauty, and homely comfort were the essential premises,” according to Baumschlager Eberly. Each house was carefully positioned on the slope to ensure unobstructed views. Above: An alpine motif marks each entryway. Above: An aerial view shows the clusters of chalets surrounding the restaurant, all connected by paths. Each overnight comes with breakfast delivered daily as well as optional snowshoe rental, charging spaces for electric vehicles, and massage treatments. Above: The village in the mountains.
For more on the chalets and restaurant, head to Peterhof. And for more mountain houses, might we suggest:
When you register as a free Member of the Remodelista family of websites (Remodelista, Gardenista, and The Organized Home), you gain access to all current posts plus 10 archived posts per month, our internal bookmarking tool, and the community bulletin board.
Access 10 archived posts (older than one year) per month on each site
Use of our internal bookmark tool, so you can save products, posts, and other pages for quick reference
Access to our community bulletin board so you can ask and answer design-related questions
Unlimited access to the Product Catalogs, Design Travel sources, and Architect & Designer Directory listings
Choose from our ten newsletters to keep up with the latest on the sites
Or Subscribe for Maximum Value!
For $5/month ($59.99 paid annually) you'll enjoy unlimited, ad-free access to Remodelista, Gardenista, and The Organized Home and all the benefits of Membership.
Annual subscribers pay 50% off the monthly subscription price of $9.99
×
Subscribe to the Remodelista family of websites
For $5/month ($59.99 paid annually) you'll enjoy unlimited, ad-free access to Remodelista, Gardenista, and The Organized Home and all the benefits of Membership.
Annual subscribers pay 50% off the monthly subscription price of $9.99
×
Sorry! As a registered member you get 10 free posts from our archive (posts more than a year old) every 30 days. You have reached your limit for this 30-day period. If you would like to access unlimited posts from the archive (ad free, too), become a subscriber today, and keep reading as many articles as you want.
Full Access Individual Subscription
Benefits include:
Unlimited access to Remodelista, Gardenista, and The Organized Home sites
Ad-free browsing environment
Unrestricted access to 30,000+ archived posts
Receive the full-text daily newsletters
All features that Members have access to
Annual subscribers pay just 50% off the monthly subscription price of $9.99
Sorry! You have reached your limit of three (3) free posts from our archive every 30 days. You can increase this to 10 posts by joining as a free Member, or read unlimited posts with no ads by becoming a paid Subscriber.
Subscribe to the Remodelista family of websites
For $5/month ($59.99 paid annually) you'll enjoy unlimited, ad-free access to Remodelista, Gardenista, and The Organized Home and all the benefits of Membership.
Annual subscribers pay 50% off the monthly subscription price of $9.99
Become a Member at no charge
When you register as a free Member of the Remodelista family of websites (Remodelista, Gardenista, and The Organized Home), you gain access to all current posts plus 10 archived posts per month, our internal bookmarking tool, and the community bulletin board.
Congratulations on becoming a Subscriber to Remodelista, Gardenista and The Organized Home! You now have access to many great features across the sites:
Unlimited access to all three sites
Ad-free browsing environment
Unrestricted access to 30,000+ archived posts
Receive any of the newsletters, including the the full-text daily Remodelista and Gardenista newsletters
Use of our internal bookmark tool, so you can save products, posts, and other pages for quick reference
Access to our community bulletin board so you can ask and answer design-related questions
Congratulations on joining as a free Member of Remodelista, Gardenista and The Organized Home! You now have access to many great features across the sites:
Access to all posts published in the past year
Access 10 archived posts (older than one year) per month on each site
Use of our internal bookmark tool, so you can save products, posts, and other pages for quick reference
Access to our community bulletin board so you can ask and answer design-related questions
Unlimited access to the Product Catalogs, Design Travel sources, and Architect & Designer Directory listings
Choose from our ten newsletters to keep up with the latest on the sites
If at any time you want to become a Subscriber and enjoy unlimited, ad-free access to all our content, just go to the My Account link and choose Subscribe.
Have a Question or Comment About This Post?
Join the conversation