Claridges Hotel And Attached Railings Claridges Hotel Wing

Claridge's is a hotel built between 1895 and 1898 by C.W. Stephens for the Savoy Hotel Company, with interiors by Ernest George and Yates and C.W. Stephens. The main entrance was added in 1929 by Oswald Milne, who also designed an extension in 1930–31. Interiors were created by René Sergent, Oswald Milne, Basil Ionides and others. The hotel was refurbished around 2000 by Thierry Despont. The building occupies a corner site at Brook Street and Davies Street in Mayfair.

Exterior

The hotel is constructed of red brick with red Mansfield stone and rubbed brick dressings, cast iron balconies, and slate roofs. The entrances are in Portland stone with black granite dressings.

Brook Street Elevation

The Brook Street frontage is principally six storeys high, with two storeys of attics set into a mansard roof, and basements. The design is symmetrical, with a three-bay gabled centrepiece, four flanking bays, and shaped outer bays. The two-storey entrance is in Portland stone, green and buff marble and black granite linings. It features a central mahogany revolving doorcase under a scalloped mahogany canopy, with flanking doors and windows that are metal-framed with scooped glazing bars. The upper stage has patterned glazing to the central bay and small-paned flanking windows. The canopy is inscribed "CLARIDGES" and has a flat roof surmounted by urns set with flowers, linked by an iron balustrade.

The gabled centrepiece breaks forward. The third floor is in rusticated brickwork, as are the flanking arms. The fourth and fifth floors are recessed behind a pair of rusticated arches on paired pilasters with embellished capitals, with single pilasters to the fifth floor. There is a shaped parapet, with the gable set back. At the sixth floor, a central aedicular open segmental pediment frames a round-headed window, with similar flanking windows above. All have rubbed brick dressings. Shaped cast iron balconies are at the fourth and fifth floors.

The flanking bays are treated similarly. The ground and mezzanine floors are in banded brickwork, with the outer bays rusticated. Window openings are rectangular, some with balconies. The entrance to Number 55 has a moulded buff stone architrave to lintel height, with rubbed brick capitals and a frieze. It has a six-panel door beneath an overlight, with paired windows above. Canted bays at the upper storeys rise through three floors, with continuous cast iron balconies across three bays and a three-bay cast iron loggia at the sixth floor. All windows are timber casements in rubbed brick architraves. There is a later 20th-century alteration to the sixth floor of the right-hand bay.

The outer bays are shaped, with the outer angle facetted. The windows are slightly canted in stone architraves and have semicircular balconies. At the third floor, these balconies rest on hemispherical moulded stone or terracotta bases. The ground floor treatment and upper balconies continue to Davies Street, with the first bay being a mirror image of that to Brook Street. All windows are timber casements painted white, most in rubbed brick architraves.

The attic storeys comprise a lower range of full dormers in timber with small pediments, and an upper range similar but each with a full pediment. There are tall lateral brick stacks.

Davies Street Elevation

The Davies Street elevation is treated as Brook Street and is symmetrical. A restaurant entrance has been added at the third to fourth bays, and a bar entrance inserted at the first bay. There are nine bays, principally five and six storeys with two tiers of attics, and basements. The ground floor largely consists of full-height flush-set metal-framed casements. Those to the left of the entrance are as Brook Street.

The restaurant entrance is in Portland stone with green and buff marble and black granite dressings. It has an overlight with shaped glazing bars above a canopy inscribed "CLARIDGE'S RESTAURANT". A coat of arms is set in the entablature. A small inserted entrance to the bar repeats the theme of the main entrances.

A central rusticated arch on enriched pilasters rises through two storeys, framing paired timber casements in moulded architraves with shaped balconies. The upper floor is set back, with a stone and brick parapet. Flanking canted bays rise through three storeys, with enriched architraves and pilasters to timber casements with continuous cast iron balconies. At the sixth floor are three-bay loggias in cast iron. The outer bays are treated as those to Brook Street. The dormers are as to Brook Street except that those to the upper tier have segmental pediments.

Brook's Mews is treated in a simplified manner, with the corner bay with Davies Street treated as a mirror image.

Railings

Attached railings run along Brook Street, Davies Street and part of the return to Brook's Mews. They are cast iron with enriched vertical panels surmounted by gilt crests.

Interior

Front Hall and Foyer

The front hall and foyer, formerly the Winter Garden, were remodelled in the 1920s and refurbished around 2000 by Thierry Despont, breaking through to spaces to the left. The hall has simple interwar and post-war classicism, with plaster ceilings and friezes and a marble chimneypiece. A three-bay arcade with marble architraves leads to the foyer. The foyer is toplit with a coved ceiling supported on four square Corinthian piers. Three-bay glazed panels to the outer walls are largely from 2000.

Drawing Room

The Drawing Room dates from 1897–98 and was designed by Ernest George and Yates. It is a rare survival of a hotel interior of this date. It has a Doric chimneypiece with paired shafts and a segmental pedimented overmantel. A three-bay screen is on the south wall. Pedimented doorcases have fluted columns at the angles. The rich plastered ceiling has a central octagonal panel with a modillion cornice.

French Salon

The French Salon was created in 1909–10 by René Sergent in the Louis XV manner as a ballroom. It has a marble chimneypiece, possibly not in situ, with a tall panelled glazed overmantel. Door and window heads are shaped. Each doorcase has a panel with seated putti. There is a plastered ceiling.

Mirror Room

The Mirror Room is the third private function room, with an interior not of special interest. The former Reading Room was redesigned in 2000–01 by Thierry Despont.

Restaurant

The restaurant was remodelled in 1929–30 by Oswald Milne, incorporating engraved glass panels from Basil Ionides' refurbishment of 1925–26. It was formed from Ernest George and Yates' coffee room and restaurant. It has chamfered piers with flared caps. The walls are lined with engraved glass panels signed William Ranken and Basil Ionides, 1926.

Main Staircase

The staircase rising from the refurbished front hall dates from the 1890s. It has a closed string with cantilevered stone treads and a wrought iron balustrade treated as bronze, with elaborate scrolled panels alternating with solid beaten bronzed panels. A screen of square Ionic shafts with panelled linings is at the first floor landing, with a Corinthian screen at the second floor. A robust timber balustrade of turned balusters is at the first and second floor landings, with a guilloche frieze below. The plaster ceiling has a modillion cornice.

Ladies' Stair

The ladies' stair is a cantilevered stair with a cast iron balustrade. The stairwell is simply panelled between slender alternating swags. The upper floors are identical except for the sixth floor.

Corridors and Bedrooms

There are broad corridors, lightly embellished. Bedrooms and suites have been generally refurbished but retain some chimneypieces, ceiling mouldings and doors. There has been some rearrangement of service passages.

Ballroom Wing

The ballroom wing was built in 1930–31 by Oswald Milne. It is in red and buff brick with polished Portland stone cladding and granite and marble dressings. It is six storeys high, with three attic storeys set back. There are five symmetrical bays.

Exterior

The ground floor and mezzanine have polished Portland stone cladding. A projecting canopy is lined in black granite and inscribed "BALLROOM". A buff marble architrave with green marble linings frames metalized doors. The lobby contains a revolving doorcase in mahogany under a scalloped mahogany canopy, with metal-framed doors with scooped panels. The flanking shop windows have been replaced. Tripartite metal-framed mezzanine windows are present. These are surmounted by a continuous frieze carrying pedestals bearing arms and linked by steel balustrades.

The upper floors have paired timber sashes in moulded brick architraves. At the third floor these have steel balustrades.

Interior

The ground floor is axially arranged, terminating in the ballroom. A hexagonal lobby is under a hemispherical dome. Each flanking face has a semicircular arch slightly recessed with a slender double impost band and a cartouche to each face, most with a doorway. An axial archway leads to the rectangular Ballroom Reception Hall. This is toplit but altered from the original rectangular panel which contained a skylight by the Birmingham Guild. Glazed wall panels are altered from the original design and sit under a coved dentil cornice with uplighters, probably original.

The rectangular entrance to the ballroom has flush architraves that survive. The ballroom is in five bays, articulated by fluted pilasters. The chandeliers are replicas of the bakelite originals.

The upper floors were not inspected.