The Beaumont hotel designed by ReardonSmith Architects officially opened this month. For this first hotel from restaurateurs Jeremy King and Chris Corbin, the architects have transformed an Art Deco era garage in London’s Mayfair into an intimate destination redolent with the style of a fine and very comfortable 1920s establishment.
The renovation involved a sensitive extension to the existing north wing of the building, as well as two additional floors on the roof and two new basement levels. These interventions have achieved space for a total of 73 guestrooms and suites, the colony grill room and American bar, a separate residents’ lounge, a small private dining room and a spa with hammam, hot stone platform, cold plunge pool and a gym. Key to the chosen scheme is that the roof extension is clearly a modern intervention which does not attempt to copy the existing façade yet is sympathetic to it.
All the fenestration is new with crittall-style windows custom-designed to match to look of the original windows while significantly improving their security, thermal and acoustic qualities. Four magnificent Art Deco style lamps on the front elevation are faithful replicas of the original lamps and the defining black iron balustrading to level four of the building – previously the top floor – has been restored. The façade was repaired and re-painted.
The ground floor plan is on a simple axis. On arrival, guests are able to see immediately the flow of spaces before them, from entrance hall to bar and through to the restaurant and, to one side, the concierge and reception, with the staircase behind sweeping down to the spa and private dining room below.
Guestrooms are discreetly glamorous and enriched by Art Deco features. Attention to detail was an absolute rule – from the design of the ceiling cornice in the bedrooms to the tone of the glass bathroom tiles and the traditional bronze light switches.
The architects worked closely with Antony Gormley to realise the sculpture. Named ‘room’, the monumental form ‘crouches’ against the façade of the building and rises 10 metres from its second floor rooftop podium. Both work of art and an architectural extension to the hotel, inside ‘room’ is an extraordinary bedroom forming part of a suite. The welded metal sculpture weighs 34 tonnes and consideration had to be given to determining the best load-bearing structure which would allow for marginal movement over time.
Patrick Reardon, executive chairman of ReardonSmith Architects, said: “It has been a joy to work with Corbin & King, our client Grosvenor who was the developer and Antony Gormley in what has been a very creative process for everyone involved in the project.
“We all shared a single vision and brought our individual skills and experience to the task of realising this vision. The result is a timeless hotel as well as a truly exciting new landmark in Mayfair.”
Images courtesy of Anthony Weller
