Barkley's Baths: The Silo

TLF partner Barkley Hickox is the office bath enthusiast and aficionado. Barkley’s Baths focuses on her favorite tubs around the globe.

When the Silo opened in Cape Town in 2017 in a renovated 1920s grain silo, the building’s unique and distinctive windows captured the imagination of Cape Tonians and international travelers alike. The pillows of glass sparkle like faceted gems in the daytime; at night, the illuminated tower looks like a lantern floating over the Victoria and Alfred Waterfront.

Once inside the building, which is perched atop the incomparable Zeitz MOCCA Museum of African Art, hotelier Liz Biden’s eclectic and ecstatic interior design vision is writ large – vibrant cerulean hutches and giraffe print banquettes somehow make sense together under her masterful eye. Biden’s personal version of euphoric luxury is enough to get the Local Foreigner team to follow her to the end of the earth, but at the Silo, bathtubs are given pride of place in the hotel, and by extension, a prime location in one of the coolest cities in the world.

My first visit to the Silo was during the 2018 Cape Town drought, which meant that long, leisurely soaks were a no-go. On arrival, I made a beeline to the main event (this is, after all, one of the top five most instagrammed #bathroomsoftheworld), the black and white striped floor drawing my eye to the roll top tub and Table Mountain beyond. The ornate chandelier threw flickers of warm light and lavender shadows across the marble countertops and creamy walls. In deference to restrictions, I kept the taps turned off, but I poured a glass of local bubbles and settled into the empty tub, gazing out over the waterfront and the city beyond, bathing in the setting sunlight and soaking in the view.