The Langham Hilton

The Langham Hilton, formerly known as The Langham (BBC), is a large hotel built approximately between 1864 and 1865 by Giles and Murray. Constructed during the hotel boom of the 1860s, it is located on Portland Place in the City of Westminster. The building is primarily stock brick with Portland stone dressings and exemplifies a heavy Italianate style, incorporating late Medieval details, French pavilion roofs, and an east wing with a corner tower.

The symmetrical north front is five main storeys high, with basements and dormered attics. It features a seven-window wide central section flanked by three-window pavilions. A central prostyle stone porch has arched openings flanked by pilasters supporting an entablature and a balustraded parapet. Recessed semicircular arched sashes are linked by carved impost bands. Canted stone bay windows with arched sashes are present on the ground and first floors of the pavilions, with pilasters carrying entablature. The northeast corner of the east wing rises as a square belvedere. The east front, facing Langham Place, has a large, central two-story bow window. The ground and first floors are rusticated, with stringcourses and a heavy crowning cornice. The frieze above the cornice contains attic windows alternating with carved panels depicting mythological animals, topped by a balustraded parapet. Segmental pedimented dormers are present in the pavilion roofs. Lofty chimney stacks are a prominent feature. This substantial building forms the southern axis of Portland Place.