Cadogan
Currently closed for a long overdue general restoration, this historic property, dating from 1887, opens in 2017 fully renovated and reconceptualised. Its 54 rooms and suites and gourmet restaurant will reflect the hotel’s rich heritage, creating a stylish retreat for visitors to what is one of the world’s most exclusive and luxurious shopping enclaves.
Built in Queen Anne style, Belmond Cadogan Hotel has long played an integral role in the social history of the Kensington and Chelsea area. The US$48 million project will draw inspiration from the neighbourhood’s rich character, offering an elegant meeting place for both international visitors and the local community.All rooms and suites recall their flirtations with some of London society's most pivotal figures. For it was here that England's future King, Edward, would liaise with close friend Lillie Langtry, the famous British actress. And here that playwright and society figure Oscar Wilde sipped hock and awaited his arrest in room 118.
The Cadogan Hotel, built in 1887 in London's SW1, off Sloane Square, was soon to find itself at the heart of Victorian society's most infamous indiscretions. Within the walls of this most stately of West End London hotels, some of society's pre-eminent figures came together in a tumult of controversy.
Society beauty, courtesan and actress Lillie Langtry lived at 21 Pont Street from 1892 to 1897. Even after she had sold the house, Lillie would stay in her old bedroom, by then a part of the hotel. It was at The Cadogan Hotel that Lillie would court Edward, the future King of England.
Meanwhile, in 1895, Victorian society was rocked by the arrest of playwright Oscar Wilde at the hotel. The incident, in room 118, was immortalised by John Betjeman in his poem, "The Arrest of Oscar Wilde at the Cadogan Hotel" Today, there's a quieter rhythm to life at The Cadogan Hotel.
The drawing room and inter-connecting private dining rooms smack of elegantly modernised Edwardian beauty. The hotel gardens offer a leafy and serene escape. The Cadogan sits apart from its homogenised West End contemporary hotels: a hotel noted for calm demeanour from an altogether more-genteel age.
Lillie Langtry
Oscar Wilde
and many more to come
54 Rooms