London Showdown: A Tale of Two (New) Hotels
A jaunty mural in the elevator at Mondrian London (Photo: Mondrian London)
The traditional British observation, “You wait hours for a bus and then two come along at once,” is often surprisingly apt in other contexts. For example, you wait years for a luxury London hotel with new, Art Deco-inspired interiors behind a period façade and a transatlantic theme and then two come along at once. But despite their similarities (even down to both opening on September 30) the Beaumont and Mondrian London couldn’t be more different.
THE BEAUMONT
The exterior of the Beaumont, with the Transformer-like ROOM installation at left (Photo: The Beaumont)
The keenly awaited first hotel from Jeremy King and Chris Corbin, the team behind London dining hotspots the Wolseley and the Delaunay promises to become a similar favorite with the city’s movers and shakers. Like the restaurants, the Beaumont combines retro glamour and impeccable professionalism with comfort and a welcoming attitude toward all patrons, famous or not.
This is a hotel for grown-ups: instead of iPads, the rooms have a carefully chosen selection of books — actual books with pages. Similarly, the music in the public rooms is period jazz and swing (if Woody Allen ever comes here he may never leave) played at a low volume.
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The Beaumont doesn’t look anything like the rental car agency it once was (Photo: The Beaumont)
Previous Incarnation: The Art Deco “stripped neo-classical” building was originally erected in 1926 as a luxury garage for shoppers at nearby department store Selfridges, complete with dining room and bathrooms for chauffeurs. Most recently it was occupied by Avis (yes, the rental cars).
Cool Creative Friend: Sculptor Anthony Gormley has created an “inhabitable sculpture” called ROOM. From the building’s exterior, it’s a cubist seated figure. From within, it’s a 33-foot-high pyramid (or actually a ziggurat) clad entirely in fumed oak. Unbelievably quiet, it contains only a bed (the suite also has a white marble bathroom and a Deco sitting room).
Location, Location, Location: A cul-de-sac in upscale Mayfair, quiet despite being right off bustling Oxford Street and within walking distance of gold-standard shopping destinations like Bond Street, Mount Street, and Conduit Street.
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The oddly patriotic American Bar (Photo: The Beaumont)
The Special Relationship: The hotel’s American Bar serves American whiskies and bourbons, as well as superior comfort food like grilled cheese sandwiches, chicken pot pie, and strawberry shortcake. The Colony restaurant, meanwhile, is a traditional grill room, decorated with murals depicting 1930s U.S. sporting venues.
Spa Time: A Jaeger-Le Coultre watch in room form, the small spa has black-and-white mosaic tiled floors, chrome and black leather barber’s chairs, and a heated marble massage table.
Deco details throughout (Photo: The Beaumont)
Rooms: In the spacious 50 rooms and 23 suites, look for high ceilings, gloss rosewood furniture, and period photographs and paintings. The Deco theme continues to the bathrooms, with chrome detailing and eau-de-nil glass tiling. If this hotel doesn’t bring out your inner Fred and Ginger, nothing will.
The Damage: Doubles from $638 (£395).
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MONDRIAN LONDON AT SEA CONTAINERS HOUSE
Mondrian London, smack on the Thames (Photo: Mondrian London)
If the Beaumont is the original novel of “The Great Gatsby,” Mondrian London (the brand’s first venture into Western Europe) is Baz Lurhmann’s recent film version, with added bling and contemporary soundtrack. The large, open-plan public spaces and omnipresent music are not designed for quiet conversation; like one of Gatsby’s parties, this is a place for today’s Bright Young Things to see and be seen, and to Instagram themselves doing it.
Previous Incarnation: Designed in the 1970s by noted American architect Warren Platner, best known for the original World Trade Center’s Windows on the World restaurant, the building was originally meant to be a luxury hotel. However, it instead became offices mostly occupied by a shipping firm, Sea Containers.
Nautical details in the screening room (Photo: Mondrian London)
Cool Creative Friend: Hot young designer Tom Dixon, known for his combining an industrial and disco aesthetic. Dixon has taken inspiration from the great transatlantic liners of the 1920s, evoked through details like brushed brass mirror surrounds, an enormous sculptural copper “hull” in the lobby, and brass stairway railings.
Location, Location, Location: Mondrian makes the most of its Thameside site with ample use of huge plate glass windows in the public rooms and a glass-walled rooftop bar. It’s a quick walk to the Southbank’s cultural attractions like Tate Modern, Shakespeare’s Globe, and the National Theatre, as well as the galleries and restaurants of trendy Bermondsey.
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A wild sculpture in the spa playground (Photo: Mondrian London)
Spa Time: The “spa playground” takes a convivial approach, with mud mask-and-cocktail packages, a group-oriented nail bar, and a “boob bar” (not topless bartenders but a bust massage).
The Special Relationship: In the elevators, U.S.-U.K. links are celebrated in images, odd-couple pairings of a Hugh Grant-like English gent and a Hollywood starlet or an untraditionally young Pearly King and an astronaut
Rooms: All 316 rooms and 43 suites have a minimalist design scheme of charcoal and white enlivened by touches of bright pink and purple textiles, as well as Dixon’s signature copper lampshade. The compact rooms are designed to evoke ships’ cabins, down to the balconies in the suites overlooking the river.
The Damage: Doubles from $325 (£195).
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