This hotel was first imagined in 2014. One day, I remember thinking, when we have the resources, we will build something that is ours. Not as an investment. As a place.
We broke ground in 2019. A son arrived in our family that same day. Construction continued through three monsoons and one pandemic; a daughter arrived along the way. We are not the first family in Nepal to build a hotel together. We hope to be a useful one.
Every person on this project has been Nepali. The architects who drew it, the engineers who calculated it, the workers who built it. The slate wall at the entrance was carved by hand here in Patan. The fifteen prayer wheels in the lobby took three months to make and another month to align. The headboards and floors took a local manufacturer twelve months to build to our specifications.
None of this was the fast way. None of it was the cheap way. It was the way that put more rupees into more Nepali hands — and that was always the point.
The building has a few quieter ambitions. The walls are double-cavity construction. The windows are double-glazed. Together they hold heat in winter and out in summer, and they keep the city where it belongs — outside. You are five minutes from Patan Durbar Square. In your room, you will not know it. A motorbike will still pass close enough, sometimes, to remind you that you are in Kathmandu — but that is the exception, and we think the exception is part of the texture.
When the pandemic arrived, two decisions changed the building. Every window would open — real air, not just conditioned air. Every surface a guest's hand might touch would be brass. The reception desk. The stair railings. The plates on the doors. Brass is naturally antimicrobial. It also ages into something more beautiful than it begins as, which we think is a useful thing for a hotel to be made of.
Square Hotel was created with a vision: to show the world what genuine Nepali hospitality looks like. Every day, a team of professional managers work to honor that vision. They are on the floor most hours of the day, trained not just in service, but in understanding what guests truly need. Whatever you need during your stay, ask any of them. The coin collection on the walls spans generations, each piece telling a story of Nepal's history. Upstairs, on the fourth floor near the entrance to Pebbles Terrace Garden, hangs another wall — paintings by Nepali artists, in partnership with Gallery 108 in Patan.
Proudly Nepali.
The team. Pulchowk, 2026.