Berkeley

How the Stage was Set HISTORY IN BRIEF 1850s: The old Berkeley Hotel was born 1901: Thetare empresario and hospitality doyen Richard D'Oyly Carte bough the Berkeley and assimilated it into his Savoy Group 1969: The old Berkely Hotel closed. 1972: The new Berkeley Hotel opened. HISTORY IN DETAIL 1750s: The Gloucester Coffee House 1850s: The beginnings of the Berkeley Hotel. 1800s: In its nineteenth century guise the Berkeley stood at the corner of Piccadilly and Berkeley Street on the edge of Mayfair, bearing the name of the street on which it stood. With good proximity to Mayfair it became a popular venue for debutantes. The restaurant in particular was one of the few places where parents would allow their daughters to go unchaperoned, as they reasoned that the staff would keep an eye on them and their escorts. 1901: Savoy Group owner Richard D’Oyly Carte approached The Berkeley’s Managing Director and offered him the opportunity to run The Savoy as well but he was turned down. Never one to give up he began negotiations to purchase the hotel. On 1 January 1901 The Berkeley became part of the Savoy Group. Managing Director, George Reeves-Smith, now found himself in charge of two properties. After the purchase by the Savoy Group, the first air conditioning and the first handwritten menus appeared in the restaurant. Richard D’Oyly Carte died in April of that year, at which time his son Rupert, now aged 25, stepped into his father’s shoes as Chairman of the Board. This two-man team would manage the hotels most successfully for the next forty years, until Reeves-Smith’s death in 1941. 1920s: Air-conditioning and double-glazing were installed throughout the hotel in the 1920s. But it was difficult to improve facilities at The Berkeley because it had not been purpose-built and the building was quite old. 1960s: The directors made a policy decision to look for a new site on which they could build a purpose-built hotel. They finally hit on the idea of buying properties in the vicinity of Hyde Park Corner. Planning permission was granted to demolish these properties and to build a new hotel, designed by the architect Martin O’Rorke. 1968: Building began on the new Berkeley. 1969: The old Berkeley closed in Piccadilly. 1972: The new Berkeley opened in Knightsbridge. As a memento of the old hotel, some of its wood panelling and decorative carvings were installed in a sitting-room off the front hall. It became known as the Lutyens Room. 1994: A new era started at The Savoy Group and The Berkeley. Jean-Georges Vongerichten opens Vong as the first restaurant by a celebrity chef in a hotel in London. This is soon followed by Pierre Koffman who moves his 2 Michelin star restaurant La Tante Claire to The Berkeley. 1999: The Lutyens room was renamed "Blue Bar". 2000: The Berkeley was “Hotel of the Year 2000”. 2001: Construction of the new wing with 54 executive rooms and junior suites. 2003: Vong was replaced by The Boxwood Café by Gordon Ramsay. LaTante Claire is replaced by Petrus. 2004: The entire guest room air conditioning were replaced with a new state-of-the art system 2005: The ballroom and function rooms were refurbished 2006: 10 guest rooms were renovated as well as 3 suites, The Pavillion Suite, The Berkeley Suite, The Chelsea Suite Source: www.berkeleyhotellondon.com 2007: 25 guest rooms are being renovated and 2 more Berkeley Suites 2008, September 15: Marcus Wareing at The Berkeley

Klaus Kabelitz, 2003 to date

Jean-Jacques Pergant, 1994 – 2003

Mr Sebastiani, pre-1994