LONDON—Taking longer than five years to complete and costing more than US$132 million (€92.8 million), the refurbishment of one of London’s first luxury hotels always was going to be a challenging task.
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| Fiona Thompson, Richmond International |
When it originally was finished in 1865, the Langham generally was acknowledged as Europe’s first grand hotel and the largest and most modern hotel in the city. State-of-the-art features including 100 water closets, 36 bathrooms and the first hydraulic lifts in the country were incorporated.
The aim of the original design was to capture the essence of two Victorian worlds—the country house and the English gentleman’s club—but with the best of modern facilities. Italian craftsmen designed and cast the plaster relief ceilings and laid intricate mosaic flooring. There were marble pillars, fine silk hangings and hand-printed wallpapers. More than 15,000 yards of Persian tapestry carpet were laid. Public rooms referenced Moorish murals that were inspired by designs in Constantinople and Spain.
Richmond International, the award-winning design company at the helm of the refurbishment of Hong Kong-based Langham Hotels International’s flagship property, always maintained the hotel doesn’t have an in-house style, it has an in-house standard. It’s this attitude and Richmond’s experience with luxury redesign (past projects include Le Trianon Palace in Versailles, France; the London Marriott Park Lane; The Sandy Lane Hotel Barbados; and The Four Seasons Hotel in Amman, Jordan) that led to this project.
Based in London with a team of 50 people, Richmond International has been designing hotel interiors for more than 40 years and has worked in more than 40 countries and for some of the world’s leading luxury hotel operators.
Fiona Thompson, design director at Richmond, said the aim of the redesign was to ensure it defines and enhances the guest experience by combining comfort, aesthetics and technology seamlessly. She said if a redesign is done well, it adds value to the asset and the bottom line.
Thompson felt a sense of theatre also was paramount in this case.
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Langham London lobby |
A turbulent history
The Langham, as a business, has had a somewhat turbulent history beginning with an economic slump only a few years after its completion. The holding company was liquidated, and the hotel sold for about half of the US$495,000 (€347,830) it cost to build.
More than 60 years later, the pressures of the Great Depression became too great, and the hotel’s owners looked to sell the building again—this time to the BBC, which declined the offer and built Broadcasting House opposite the hotel.
The BBC eventually would acquire the building after bomb damage forced the hotel to close during World War II. The broadcasting company used it as an extension of its offices and survived a demolition request in favor of a Norman Foster-designed purpose-built office.
After being bought by the Ladbroke Group in 1986, it was incorporated under the Hilton International brand and finally reopened as the Langham Hilton in 1991. New ownership added to Ladbroke’s $US165-million (€116 million) refurbishment, and current owner Langham Hotels International has spread the brand throughout the world.
A return to its roots
The tired and outdated interior hadn’t been touched since 1990. It had been reduced from a five-star to a four-star property when it was absorbed into the Hilton brand. Great Eagle Holdings, owners of Langham Hotels International, sought to completely reposition and rebrand the property.
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Langham London reception area |
Thompson said the goal was to upgrade and reposition the existing hotel to become a six-star property and recapture the original personality and status of what once was one of the grand hotels of Europe. One of the most important aspects of redesign was to reduce room capacity from 425 to 380. A new business center and 15 function rooms also were added.
But working within such a historic building meant discovering structural elements during construction and adapting design to suit. The hotel remained operational throughout the program, which created challenges not only in the zoning and phasing of the works but also in preventing too much disruption to the existing guests, Thompson said.
Understanding what materials will and won’t work will help a business get the most for their money from design, Thompson said. At the Langham, this has meant using traditional crafts in most of the new areas and adding bespoke artwork and chandeliers to the refitted ones.
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London's Langham Hotel |
The main focus is understanding that decisions made in the design process go beyond the aesthetics and will impact how the building will function as a successful hotel and profitable business, which can enable a property to maximize its investment sooner that it might otherwise, she said.
“It was felt The Langham London should have a unique character even though it is part of the Langham International brand,” she said. “We wanted to convey the feeling of quality, elegance and sophistication throughout the guestrooms and public spaces to ensure the guests and visitors understood they were in a very special environment.”
Bedrooms have been upgraded and enlarged to reflect current expectations, and in most instances three rooms were turned into two, allowing the bathrooms to be modernized and expanded. Suites were doubled in size to span two bays. Other elements have been taken back to original form, such as the repositioning of the Palm Court restaurant back to the heart of the hotel.