Brown's Hotel

London

Founded more than 2,000 years ago on the banks of the Thames, London is a multi-cultural metropolis that has never ceased to expand. In the 19^th century, it was the world’s most populated city, and today, its seven million inhabitants represent 50 nationalities speaking about 300 different languages. As a capital of fashion and the arts, the city has many internationally renowned museums such as the National Gallery, the Tate and the British Museum as well as world famous monuments including Westminster Palace with the houses of Parliament, Westminster Abbey with its celebrated Big Ben, Tower Bridge and the Tower of London, and the royal residence, Buckingham Palace. London is a conglomeration of different quarters, each with its own well-defined identity, including the historical and financial quarter known as The City, chic residential neighborhoods like Chelsea and Kensington, working class, multi-ethnic areas such as Spitafields, Whitechapel, Stepney, Mile End and Bethnal Green, the more central quarters of Soho, Covent Garden, Piccadilly Circus and Leicester Square known for their theatres, cinemas, concert halls and ready to wear clothing boutiques, and Mayfair, home to important international embassies, prestigious jewelers and art galleries. Trendy, cultural, hype, ethnic, contradictory and ambiguous are just a few adjectives to describe this exciting and varied capital.

In the footsteps of Agatha Christie

Brown’s Hotel, in the heart of the Mayfair district, contains eleven Georgian style houses. Opened in 1837 by Lord Byron’s valet, its guests included Oscar Wilde, Rudyard Kipling, Agatha Christie, Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill. Queen Victoria would come here often to have tea. Once nicknamed, “the Grand Lady”, it was totally renovated in 2005 by Sir Rocci Forte, one of the greatest luxury hotel designers. Forte employed the services of the talented Italian decorator, Olga Polizzi, who, while preserving the soul of Brown’s, imposed a contemporary deco design. Although totally transformed today, its initial structure of a labyrinth of corridors and half floors to the left and right, as well as the walls have conserved the hotel’s original atmosphere. The reception area, hidden in the middle of the building, appears at the end of a corridor. Without ostentation, the feeling of luxury prevails, as witnessed by the sober and elegant rooms. Spread throughout the eleven separate houses, the rooms differ by their surface, disposition and decoration although the latter remains consistent. Old woodwork has been either removed or modernized in favor of a purified style. Pale colors like white, beige, ecru and caramel are predominant and harmonize perfectly with the period fireplaces, the silks and the antiques.

And in spite of Brown’s ripe old age, there is of course, an ultra modern spa. Brown’s was also the first London hotel with its own restaurant, and a visit to the magnificent Albemarle is a must. Typically British meals are served in Edwardian style wood surroundings, under a Jacobin ceiling. Finally, a visit to the Donovan Bar for a final drink is recommended, as are the magnificent black and white photos on display and signed, Terrance Donovan.

Agatha Christie was inspired by the atmosphere of the hotel when she wrote, “At Bertram’s Hotel.”