Kimpton Fitzroy London
Hotel chainKimpton Hotels & Restaurants
General information
LocationRussell Square, London, UK
Coordinates51°31′22″N 0°07′30″W / 51.5227°N 0.1250°W / 51.5227; -0.1250
Opened1900 (1900)
OwnerCovivio Hotels
ManagementInterContinental Hotels Group
Design and construction
Architect(s)Charles Fitzroy Doll
Other information
Number of rooms334
Website
www.kimptonfitzroylondon.com
The hotel seen from Woburn Place

The Kimpton Fitzroy London is a historic five-star hotel, located on Russell Square, Bloomsbury, in the London Borough of Camden. From its opening in 1900 until 2018, it was known as the Hotel Russell.

History

"Lucky George"

The Hotel Russell was built in 1898 by the architect Charles Fitzroy Doll and opened in 1900. It is distinctively clad in decorative thé-au-lait ("tea with milk") terracotta and was based on the Château de Madrid near the Bois de Boulogne in Paris.

Its restaurant, which was originally named after the architect but is now called Neptune, is said to be almost identical to the RMS Titanic's dining room, which he designed.[1] Also in the hotel is "Lucky George", a bronze dragon on the second floor stairs. An identical copy was on the Titanic.[1]

Known for its palatial design, the hotel's fixtures and fittings included an ornate Pyrenean marble staircase and an interior sunken garden. Each room was fitted with an en-suite bathroom, a great innovation at the time.[2] A sister hotel by the same architect, the Imperial Hotel, was also built on Russell Square, but it was demolished in the late 1960s.[3]

The life-size statues of four Queens - Elizabeth I, Mary II, Anne and Victoria[4] - above the main entrance were the work of the sculptor Henry Charles Fehr. The façade, by Doll, incorporates the coats of arms of the world's nations (as they were in 1898) in the spandrels of the first floor.[5]

The hotel was one of the few that were not taken over by the War Office during the Second World War. It survived the war largely intact, but the magnificent dome that stood on the roof was badly damaged in an air raid of 1941 and not replaced.[5]

The Russell Group of universities is named after Hotel Russell, where the first informal meetings took place.[6]

On 16 April 2018, the hotel reopened as The Principal London after an extensive renovation by the Principal Hotel Company.[1] In July 2018, the Principal Hotel Company sold 12 hotels in its portfolio (including The Principal London) to Covivio Hotels, which then licensed their management to InterContinental Hotels Group.[7] The hotel was renamed the Kimpton Fitzroy London on 24 October 2018.[8]

The interior features contemporary design by lead designer Tara Bernerd & Partners. The bedrooms are decorated with a design by British textile artist Kit Miles.

The Hotel Russell is mentioned in Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical Cats during the song "The Journey to the Heaviside Layer".

The Hotel Russell is used as a location in the 1981 miniseries Kessler.

The Kimpton Fitzroy London appeared on Top Chef: World All-Stars as the accommodation of the season's contestants.[9]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 "'Titanic' hotel to celebrate £85m relaunch in Bloomsbury". Evening Standard. 15 February 2018.
  2. ↑ "Decorative Stones in the Hotel Russell, Russell Square" (PDF). University College London. Retrieved 15 July 2018.
  3. ↑ Hobhouse, Hermione (1972). Lost London ([1st American ed.] ed.). Boston: Houghton Mifflin. p. 207. ISBN 9780395135211.
  4. ↑ "Statues of Four Queens: Elizabeth, Mary, Anne, and Victoria". Victorian Web. Retrieved 1 February 2019.
  5. 1 2 "Hotel Russell, Russell Square London". waymarking.com. Retrieved 2 September 2014.
  6. ↑ "Four universities join elite Russell Group". BBC News. 12 March 2012. Retrieved 5 September 2012.
  7. ↑ "Kimpton Fitzroy London Hotel Opening Late October". www.hotelnewsresource.com. Retrieved 20 June 2019.
  8. ↑ "Kimpton Makes Its UK Debut With the Opening of Kimpton Fitzroy London". www.hotelnewsresource.com. Retrieved 20 June 2019.
  9. ↑ Livesay, Brandon (17 March 2023). "See Inside the 'Top Chef' Hotel Where the Cheftestants Are Living for Season 20 in London". People. Retrieved 7 April 2023.
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