The Giri Residence, The Building That Heard Everything

Around 1820, in Sant Joan de Labritja, a prominent family built this large townhouse on the main street: thick whitewashed walls, high ceilings, unmistakably Ibizan character.

In the twentieth century, the building became the island's first telephone exchange. Ibiza's earliest phone calls passed through this house. Then came silence, and abandonment.

In the early 2000s, Alberto Cortés, Spanish, and Yvonne Hulst, Dutch, the forces behind Ksar Living, a studio based in Ibiza since 1998, saw a protected hundred-and-fifty-year-old townhouse in the most authentic village of the north. The restoration followed heritage regulations to the letter: polished cement placed beside original hydraulic tiles, reclaimed wood throughout.

The Giri Residence opened in 2010. Five suites, each different from the next, Balinese furniture, Moroccan textiles, Scandinavian lines. Today it is a luxury boutique hotel in Sant Joan de Labritja, with ten staff for a maximum of ten guests, an outdoor pool, a hand-tiled indoor pool, a spa and breakfast included.

This building has heard everything. Tonight, it's listening.