The Savoy

London, Great Britain

The capital of England and the largest city in the United Kingdom, London is also a cosmopolitan city with more than 50 nationalities present and about 300 different languages spoken. Founded more than 2,000 years ago by the Romans, London is a modern, dynamic metropolis and a flourishing international finance center. Rivaling Paris and New York as a capital of fashion and the arts, the city has numerous museums like the renowned British Museum and the National Gallery as well as internationally famous monuments like Westminster, with its houses of Parliament and Westminster Abbey with its famous Big Ben, the Tower Bridge and the Tower of London, and the royal residence, Buckingham Palace.

This immense and multi-cultural capital is divided into very distinct neighborhoods, each with a different identity. The quarter known as the City is the historic and business center. Kensington and Chelsea are chic and residential.Spitalfields, Whitechapel, Stepney, Mile End and Bethnal Green are more working class and multi-ethnic. Soho, Covent Garden, Piccadilly Circus and Leicester Square are all more central with theatres, cinemas, concert halls and ready to wear clothing shops, ideal for entertainment and shopping. Welcome to London!

Totally mythical

Located on the Strand in the heart of the West End theatre district, the Savoy is an institution, a mythical, historic hotel and a guarantor of British traditions. Built on the site of a former manor belonging to the Count of Savoy, by Richard d’Oyly Carte, owner of the adjacent Savoy Theatre, it opened in 1889 and was renovated in 2009 by the French designer, Pierre-Yves Rochon. A hundred million pounds were needed to create a blend of Art Déco and Edward VII styles, which has once again placed the Savoy in the ranks of the world’s great palace hotels.

Destined for a wealthy clientele, the Savoy has, for more than a century, welcomed a host of celebrities. Claude Monet painted the Thames from his room. Maharajahs came here accompanied by their harems, Pavlova danced here, Onassis used it as a secret meeting place with Maria Callas, and Charlie Chaplin lived here upon his return from Hollywood in 1952. The Savoy’s reputation for holding sumptuous parties and celebrations is well-founded, and even the maddest requests can become reality here. In 1905, millionaire George Kessler had the courtyard inundated in order to accommodate a silk lined gondola decorated with 12,000 fresh carnations in which operatic arias were sung by the celebrated tenor, Enrico Caruso. A well-known diva would walk her trained crocodile here. The royal family’s arrival was announced by a special bell, and another renowned diva named Nelly Melba, had a dessert created for her by the renowned chef, Auguste Escoffier, and which was thereafter known as “peach melba”. British traditions however, prevail, and both Twiggy and Bob Dylan were refused entrance into the restaurant, the former because she was wearing a mini-skirt and the latter because he wasn’t wearing a necktie!

The 268 rooms, with spectacular views of the Thames, cleverly combine tradition and state of the art technology. Using Murano glass chandeliers, silk covered walls, Italian fabrics and marble floors, Pierre-Yves Rochon has given each room its own specific identity.

In the area of gastronomy, the Savoy has perpetuated the excellence begun by Auguste Escoffier. In the very heart of the hotel, beneath the glass dome, the Thames foyer is the ideal place for a light meal or the legendary British “tea time”. Along the Thames, the River Restaurant highlights the best in local and seasonal products. And at the Savoy Grill, where the original Art Déco lighting of the 1920s has been restored, guests can try a charcoal broiled chateaubriand with soufflé potatoes, a royal crab and shrimp cocktail, and the prestigious “peach melba” while seated at the favorite table of Winston Churchill, Oscar Wilde, Frank Sinatra or Marilyn Monroe. Pardon the name dropping!

Originally purchased to build an electric generator for the neighboring Savoy Theatre, the hotel was the first public building in the world to be lit by electricity.