Carlton Hotel, London

Coordinates: 51°30′28″N 0°07′53″W / 51.5078°N 0.1315°W / 51.5078; -0.1315
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

The Carlton, 1905

The Carlton Hotel was a luxury hotel in London that operated from 1899 to 1940. It was designed by the architect

Her Majesty's Theatre, which is adjacent to the hotel site. The Carlton was originally run by the Swiss hotelier César Ritz, with Auguste Escoffier as the head chef. In its early days it was one of London's most fashionable hotels and drew some customers away from the Savoy Hotel
, which Ritz and Escoffier had previously managed.

The hotel lost some of its prestige after Ritz retired, but continued to trade profitably until it was badly damaged by German bombing in 1940. The British government requisitioned the building in 1942. After the Second World War the shareholders of the hotel sold the lease of the site, and the surviving parts of the building were demolished in 1957–58. The site is now occupied by the 17-storey block of the New Zealand High Commission.

History

Origins

Her Majesty's Theatre
is shown in outline on the right.

The site, on the corner of the

Her Majesty's Theatre and to construct a hotel on the site alongside. The actor-manager Herbert Beerbohm Tree agreed to take a lease of the theatre, the Office of Woods approved the plans, and building started in July 1896.[1]

When building work began,

Prince Regent
. The company's prospectus stated:

The Hotel has been erected from plans approved by the Crown, and decorated and equipped by Messrs. Waring and Gillow, Limited. It contains upwards of 250 bed and sitting rooms, which are arranged both en suite and separately, and decorated and furnished in 18th century English and French styles. Private bath rooms are attached to the suites, and there is also ample general accommodation in this respect, there being altogether about 80 bath rooms. In addition to smoking, reading, dining, reception, and retiring rooms … the Hotel contains a Palm Court on the ground floor. … Each bed room is fitted with a telephone enabling visitors to communicate with any part of the hotel service, or to be switched on to the trunk line. Hair-dressing rooms, boy messenger service, theatre box office and every other adjunct of an hotel of the very highest order are provided.[3]

The Palm Court of the Carlton, 1899, captioned in The Illustrated London News as "A Fashionable Resort of Today"

Construction of the hotel was not yet complete when Phipps died in 1897. The architectural partnership of Lewis Isaacs and Henry L. Florence were appointed to complete the building.[1] The Survey of London quoted a contemporary critic, Edwin Sachs, who commented on the hotel and theatre: "The treatment is considered to be in the French Renaissance style and stone has been used throughout. The detail cannot, however, be termed satisfactory, nor does the exterior architecturally express the purpose of the building." The Survey adds, however: "Present-day connoisseurs of late-Victorian architecture are less censorious, and many will regret the partial demolition of a building which, though overspiced with eclectic details, had considerable panache."[1][4]

In the prospectus, the directors of The Carlton Hotel Limited wrote, "Mr. Ritz and the Directors believe that the hotel and restaurant will at once take precedence of similar establishments in London."

Prince of Wales and the Marlborough House set. It paid out a dividend of 7 per cent in its first year to its influential financial and aristocratic backers, and for many years it was considered the finest hotel in London."[2]

Twentieth century

Badge of The Carlton, 1903

Ritz's satisfaction at pulling ahead of the Savoy was short lived. At the height of the fame of the Carlton, Ritz was preparing to mark the coronation of

Edward VII in 1902 with much-publicised and elaborate festivities when the king suddenly fell ill, and the coronation was postponed indefinitely. The shock caused Ritz to suffer a severe nervous breakdown and sent him into retirement, leaving Escoffier as the figurehead at the Carlton.[2]

Richard D'Oyly Carte had died in 1901, but his son

Andrew Mellon and other major millionaires thought it the only satisfactory place in London."[7]

The future Vietnamese communist leader

Blue Plaque
on the hotel's site marking the connection.

The New Zealand High Commission, built on the former site of the Carlton

During the

Second World War the hotel was badly damaged by German bombing in 1940. The residential parts of the building were permanently closed.[10] In 1942 remaining parts of the building were requisitioned as offices by the British government, although the American Bar and grill room of the hotel remained open.[11]
The hotel never reopened. In 1949 the company sold the unexpired portion of its lease to the government of New Zealand for £325,000; the site was proposed for the new High Commission of New Zealand.[12] In 1951 The Carlton Hotel Limited went into voluntary liquidation.[13] The hotel was demolished in 1957–58, and the High Commission was built on the site.[1]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ a b c d e Sheppard, F. H. W. "The Haymarket Opera House", Survey of London, British History Online, accessed 8 June 2011
  2. ^ a b c Ashburner, F. "Escoffier, Georges Auguste (1846–1935)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004, online edition, May 2011, accessed 9 June 2011 (subscription required)
  3. ^ a b "The Carlton Hotel Limited", The Times, 24 July 1899, p. 3
  4. ^ Although the hotel no longer survives, it was part of a single façade with the adjoining theatre, which remains intact.
  5. ^ Daily Mirror, 10 June 1904, p. 16.
  6. ^ "The Carlton", The Times, 7 November 1912, p. 17; 7 November 1913, p. 18, 26 November 1918, p. 12, 3 November 1921, p. 20, 27 October 1925, p. 22, 12 November 1931, p. 21, 25 October 1933, p. 21, and 16 December 1937, p. 24
  7. ^ "Our London Correspondence", The Manchester Guardian, 21 October 1942, p. 4
  8. ISBN 978-0520235335
    .
  9. ^ Forbes, Andrew; Henley, David (2012). Vietnam Past and Present: The North. Chiang Mai, Thailand: Cognoscenti Books.
  10. ^ "London Hotels Hit", The Times, 29 November 1940, p. 2
  11. ^ "News in Brief", The Times, 22 October 1924, p. 2
  12. ^ "Carlton Hotel Lease Sold", The Times, 11 January 1949, p. 4
  13. ^ "Carlton Hotel to be Wound Up", The Times, 4 May 1951, p. 11

External links

51°30′28″N 0°07′53″W / 51.5078°N 0.1315°W / 51.5078; -0.1315

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