The Ritz Hotel

TQ 2980 SW CITY OF WESTMINSTER PICCADILLY W.1 81/65 (south side) The Ritz Hotel 10.3.65 GV II* Grand hotel. 1906 by Mewés and Davis, their first major London commission. Norwegian granite and Portland stone cladding one of the earliest steel frames. Green slate roof. Very much a Parisian design, of rue de Rivoli and Place Vendome derivation, with typically enlarged yet restrained Beaux Arts detailing. 6 storeys and 2 tiers of dormers in steep mansard. Podium-ground floor channelled arcade over pavement, the semicircular arched openings with carved bearded and female head keystones. Arched openings behind, with late C20 shop fronts,flanking main entrance. Upper floors,with central and flanking 5 bay pavilions framed by channelled pilaster strips,have 1st and 2nd floor windows linked by through-storey architraves with enriched cornices over 2nd floor; segmental arched flat surround 3rd floor windows with carved head keystones; Louis XV style iron window guards. Mutule cornice over 4th floor; balustraded parapet to set back attic storey; applied pediments to attics of pavilions. Ornamental leadwork cresting roof ridges. Similar details to return elevations to Green Park and Arlington Street where there is a wrought iron and glazed canopied entrance. Richly gilded Louis XV interiors with convincing detailing executed with splendid panache, concentrated in the central Fountain Court and in the Restaurant at the Green Park end of the axial promenade-corridor.

Listing NGR: TQ2907280320