Design
Room to remember
In a world that feels like it’s hurtling into a chaotic and uncertain future, the lure of nostalgia is an intoxicating thing. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the sphere of hospitality design, where hotel designers are tapping into a yearning to go back in time. Will Moffi tt speaks to James Twomey, architect and company director of ReardonSmith architects, about turning The Beaumont into a luxurious homage to 1920s Jazz age decadence, and Anne Becker Olins, senior vice president for luxury brands Europe, design & technical service at Accor, about revitalising the Old War Offi ce (The OWO) and bringing the much coveted Raffl es brand to London.
F
.Scott Fitzgerald once said that “the test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function”. Sitting in the central lobby at The Beaumont hotel, Fitzergerald’s much cited quote – and the era that birthed it – spring to mind. The Beaumont is, after all, a place of dynamic contradiction: a newly renovated hotel in the heart of London enveloped by 1920s New York Jazz era decadence.
From the chessboard floor and oak panelling to the glistening chandelier and newly fashioned Magritte Bar inspired by the historic Stork and “21” Clubs in Café society New York, the interior is covered head to toe in an Art Deco aesthetic. In a suggestive nod to the era’s great novella, there is even a ‘Gatsby’s Room’, and while it’s not quite roaring – it’s midday on a Tuesday –
Hotel Management International /
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you can imagine Fitzgerald’s quintessentially American anti-hero perched on one of its many armchairs cocktail in hand.
If the late Russian-American philosopher Svetlana Boym talked of nostalgia as “grieving for a past that has been lost” The Beaumont is a bold but carefully orchestrated celebration of a historical period that continues to enthral and entrance; and while it’s Mayfair postcode might be unique, it chimes with a broader trend of hotels paying homage to a romanticised past. These efforts run the gamut from newbuilds made to feel timeless or old – ala The Beaumont – all the way to wholesale restoration projects. Naturally, such properties diverge in terms of offering. Just as it has become commonplace for boutique hotels to draw on or mythologise past
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Raffl es London at The OWO
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