Ritz Hotel
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- For other uses, see Ritz (disambiguation).
History
Famed Swiss hotelier César Ritz opened the hotel on May 24, 1906. The building is neoclassical in the Louis XVI manner, built during the Belle Époque to resemble a stylish Parisian block of flats, over arcades that consciously evoked the Rue de Rivoli. Its architects were Charles Mewès, who had previously designed Ritz's Hôtel Ritz Paris, and Arthur Davis, with engineering collaboration by the Swedish engineer Sven Bylander. It was the first hotel in the country to offer every room a private bathroom, and was the first substantial steel-frame structure in London.Ritz personally managed much of the hotel's operation for many years. He hired world-famous chef Auguste Escoffier to provide cuisine to match the opulence of the hotel's decorations; he placed a special bell in the entryway by which the doorman could notify the staff of the impending arrival of royalty. The high standards to which he held his staff and the ultimate luxury which he provided his guests had been entirely foreign to Victorian Londoners, and the sensation he caused in the hotel industry precipitated a dramatic shift in that industry's focus.
David and Frederick Barclay purchased the ailing hotel for 80 Million pounds from Trafalgar House, in October 1995, through their company Ellerman Investments. They spent eight years and forty million pounds restoring it to its former grandeur.
Facilities
The Ritz's most famous facility is the Palm Court, an opulently decorated cream-colored Louis XVI setting for the world-famous institution that is "Tea at the Ritz", (though, strictly speaking, Tea at the Savoy is the original version) once frequented by King Edward VII, Charlie Chaplin, Sir Winston Churchill, Charles de Gaulle, Noel Coward, Judy Garland, Evelyn Waugh, Gary Glitter and Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother. The Rivoli Bar, built in the Art Deco style, was designed in 2001 by interior designer Tessa Kennedy. A table at the Restaurant still needs to be booked weeks in advance.
The hotel has two private dining rooms, the Marie Antoinette Suite and the Trafalgar Suite.
See also
- Hotels in London
- Ritz-Carlton hotel chain
- Hôtel Ritz Paris
External links
References
- Marcus Binney, The Ritz Hotel London, 1999.
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