Andra Hem is a four story pre-war building on the corner of Chancellor and 16th Street in Philadelphia, the lower levels being a cocktail lounge designed by Ghislaine Viñas. The client, Paige West, grew up in Philadelphia and has long had the idea to open up an art space there. While looking for a location to showcase her privately held art collection, the West Collection, this townhouse space popped up in Rittenhouse Square. While it was too small for the West Collection endeavor she thought the location and property itself would be a great setting for a Micro-Hotel or Cocktail Lounge.

Ghislaine Viñas and Paige West have partnered on so many projects together at this point it feels like a culmination of passions for design, Hospitality and entertaining. 'Andra Hem' means ‘second home’ in Swedish. The historical background of the area translated into a fictional storyline and inspiration for the project.

The Swedish were the very first colonizers in the area. A number of Swedish farming families were sent over by the King to break ground in the new world. As history goes, they worked with the Lenape Tribe on farming land. Since the Swedish were still colonizers, they were taking land that did not belong to them in the process. The British followed the Swedish and then the Germans. To Paige, Andra Hem sounded like a woman's name. She pictured this woman running this B&B. There's a portrait that represents Andra above the bar that the artist Mark Mulroney manipulated. 

We wanted everyone to have the feeling that you are in Andra’s home when you enter the bar.