BUENOS AIRES — When Patricia O'Shea and Tom Rixton moved to Buenos Aires from Dublin, in 2000, they kept their eyes open for a property to turn into a hotel. The couple had plans to get married, so they also hoped it would be a cool place to host their wedding guests.

They found what they were looking for in an old furniture warehouse on Calle Honduras (Honduras Street), in the city's hip Palermo district and two years later opened Home Hotel. They've continued to work on the 20-room facility ever since, attracting attention and accolades in the process. This year, all that patience and perseverance resulted in their loftiest honor yet: the World Boutique Hotels Awards named it the best boutique hotel in Latin America.

The Anglo-Argentine couple wanted an environment imbued with "history and culture," and brought wallpaper from London, some dating from 1889. The hotel's interiors harmonize modern and old, hard and soft, with a mix of materials and furniture styles. It feels as much like a home as it does a hotel. One of its charms is a lush, 300-square-meter garden, designed by local celebrity and architect Chunchuna Villafañe.

Another architect, Rodrigo Cunill, oversaw the restoration project. "The leitmotif of the design revolves around a combination of exterior-interior, and public-private spaces," he explains. "Integrating opposites by using a unifying material allows spaces to flow, through transparencies or natural light sources."

Leading travel and style magazines have taken note as well. Condé-Nast Travelerranked Home Hotel eighth on its list of "Top Hotels in South America" in 2017. Wallpaper* gave it a design award. And three years ago, it won the World Travel Award as Argentina's "Leading Boutique Hotel."