Short stay: Mantis No 5, Boutique Art Hotel, Port Elizabeth, South Africa

Is it an art gallery? A stylish tribute to Art Deco architecture and sophisticated interiors? An elegant paean to the Jazz Age? Or a warmly welcoming seven suite boutique hotel?

In fact, Mantis No. 5, taking its name from its address at No 5 Brighton Drive, in the upmarket seaside suburb of Summerstrand, is all of those. On South Africa’s Sunshine Coast it is just a four-minute stroll from the beach and the Indian Ocean. Though Port Elizabeth, sat on Nelson Mandela Bay, is no longer Port Elizabeth. As part of the Africanisation process, it is now Gqeberha, though most road signs still point to Port Elizabeth.

Purchased and lovingly restored by Adrian Gardiner, the hotel now houses over 200 pieces from the conservationist / entrepreneur’s private collection. It is worth sitting down in the lounge and leafing through the guide to the collection.

The welcome

No 5 arrange a pick-up from Port Elizabeth Airport. Much of the short 10-minute transfer runs along the coast. With just seven suites, the receptionist has the time to take us to our suite on the first floor.

The suite

Ample mirrors, a polished floor and numerous spotlights create the ambience of an Art Deco club. There’s even a bar-cum-foyer entrance with glasses waiting on the shelves. There is a grandeur to the wooden rectangular block floor, with shades from light cedar to mahogany contrasting with luscious cream rugs decorated with circles of muted colours.

Two sets of double glass doors lead out onto a wide balcony whose thin polished chrome railings have a feel of a deck on an ocean liner. Another Art Deco touch. Cleverly, a swivelling large television acts as a divider between the lounge area and the bedroom.

The bathroom

There is all the glossy tiling, space and bright lights of a star’s dressing room in an Art Deco theatre. Except that there are his-and-her basins in this generously proportioned bathroom. There is a jauntily coloured toy boat that has symbolically run aground in the bath. Showers are preferred as Port Elizabeth’s water shortage continues.

Facilities

Walking into the 30-seater Jazz Room is like walking into New York City’s Harlem in the 1920s. A piano tinkles, bass thrums, a trombone sings, and drums improvise the percussive rhythm as the soundtrack evokes the Jazz Age. As with every room at No. 5, this restaurant is an art gallery. One wall pays tribute to the musicians of that racy era of jazz and flappers. On the…