The Piccadilly Hotel (today The Dilly) and Cordings – a glitch in the timeline?

I popped into The Dilly to see if there was anything left of what was, over 100 years ago, often described as one of the most impressive hotels in the world. I was on the hunt for any of its original 1908 construction or the 1920s revamp when it became one of London's best Jazz Age venues. Suffice to say, I couldn't find much from either period, but I did uncover an enigma whereby the dates for certain things simply don't make sense. 

This huge central London hotel fills the space bordered by between Piccadilly, Air Street and Regent Street. Its exterior is today slathered in scaffolding. However, many information boards hint at the building's history and the kind of modern facilities that are available inside. 

I wandered into the bland foyer which still retains the three lovely ceiling lights, to my mind at odds with the modern PVC panels and printed info for facilities available on other floors:

The room at the far left of the reception area is today Madhu's of Mayfair, offering Indian cuisine, set within ornately sumptuous surroundings that was originally The Grill Room: 

Note the image bottom right above which is from one of the panels on the exterior of the building. The second photo within that shows a second room with lovely ceiling lights, which I also did not see on this occasion. I'll need to go back again. 

Back in the reception area, there was an unmanned temporary counter advertising 'Downstairs at the Dilly'. I'd also noticed a sign outside depicting an 'exclusive' dance studio, by which I am assuming that it's only residents or members who can use this facility.  

Convinced that one of these spaces would have been the hall used for parties in the 1920s when the Bright Young Things dressed up in tailed suits and beaded dresses and danced the Charleston into the early hours, I headed down the stairs to investigate further but I ended up in a small basement lobby leading to a gym. Hmm. I'll have to check out some floor plans and go back for another try. I'm now recalling that there's an elaborately columned swimming pool down there somewhere too. So I headed to the upper floors via the lovely staircase which, I assume, dates from 1908 when the hotel first opened. Marble, metal and wood in elegant harmony, albeit badly married with some nasty modern carpet. 

On one of the landings there is an old London map etched into metal and lit so strongly that it's hard to see in person, let along photograph it. I've done my best here in an effort to show how bizarre it is that the designers of today's hotel have installed a map that shows this area before the hotel existed yet there is no annotation or explanation on or near it to explain to the uninitiated what they are looking at!

It's actually a very fascinating map and one I am not sure I have seen before. Note Regent Circus for Piccadilly Circus. Judging by the things depicted within it, I'm guessing it's 1870s. 

I took a snap of the layout of one of the floor plans and continued up the stairs to The Terrace, passing through an area festooned with horrid fake plastic flowers (but you can't have a plastic straw with your cocktail, go figure) and a screen advertising the facilities available at the hotel. This includes a bizarre image of a 'bride and groom' entering the ground floor lobby. This repeats along the exterior of the building and I have often shown this image to friends to point at the strange camel toe effect at the front of her dress at thigh level – ugh!  Has the marketing department at The Dilly not heard of photo editing software?! And whilst I'm in picky mode – that TV screen isn't level. 

But the terrace area itself is actually a lovely space with, considering its locality, reasonably priced fare (ooh, careful Jane!). It sits behind the columns that run along along the main facade. Back in the 'Art Deco' era this terrace included an outdoor circular bathing pool, approx 4metres diameter, just like like one of the large collapsible ones you can buy today. I know this because I have photo somewhere of some young women in bathing suits here – when I locate that image it I will add it to this post.

And so to the enigma. It's about the timeline of this building which, doesn't seem to make sense.

Richard Norman Shaw's elegant Palladian/Baroque designs for this hotel are said to have started in 1905/6 with the 300-bedroom building opening in 1908 offering a wide range of additional facilities that included the aforementioned Grill Room, three basement floors for hospitality and entertainment, and four Masonic lodges(!). An illustration of the building is included within the info panels on the outside of The Dilly and within the in-house promotion. 

It comes from an advertisement in the New York Herald dated 1911, three years after the hotel had opened. But look again at that illustration and note that it is a drawing, not a photograph, and the hotel covers the whole block including the corner space, complete with a flag on it. Air Street is shown to be as big and fancy as the Piccadilly side, which is not so, not actually possible. 

I suggest that the hotel never covered this corner section at all because by 1903 that bit was already occupied by Cordings. Indeed, a lovely ribbon-effect 1903 building date stamp can be seen on the first floor above the entrance to Denman House at No.20 Piccadilly. The date is hard to see in my pics here, but trust me it's there:

This leads me to believe that designs for the hotel were started at least six years before it opened and this American newspaper (and possibly others too) simply used a preliminary illustration, no other visual image being available to them at that time. It's hard to believe that nobody took at actual photo, especially as this was such prestigious building. 

UPDATE: This press ad (c1909) backs up my theory as it shows the corner part of this block cropped out of both of the street views:

The Dilly's own history page doesn't offer much more than I have already written above. This piece by Historic Hotels is more comprehensive and includes some excellent images.

To find out more about RE Jones who owned the hotel from 1921, join me for my Southwark Ghostsigns guided walk, often available here.

The Imperial Hotel Russell Square – James Bond-tastic

There's a 1960's era hotel facing Russell Square that I absolutely Love love love. I've been concerned about it for decades now. It's in that 'too new to be treasured, not old enough to be saved' zone especially as many people jump on the bandwagon about on about awful it is and how it replaced a huge bit of Edwardian OTT. Indeed that 'To The Turkish Baths' sign in the pavement harks back to that long-gone previous building. Oh yawn. People just don't use their eyes! 

Well, I love it. Check out the extended orange letters (Microgramma? Eurostile?) the vertical stripes of gold mosaic interspersed with fine pebbled concrete, the windows that let in extra light due to being angled, how the design continues through the drive-way and into the courtyard at the rear which leads to a fountain in the same design and an enclosed area containing elements saved from the old hotel.

Bloomsbury has a few other hotels like this, but The Imperial is the King of them all. Yet trying to find info online about this 1960's James Bond gem is proving to be an uphill struggle. I can't even find the name of architect. Instead, all I find is moans and groans and violins about what's gone before. 

Last year, June 2022, when I checked in on the building, there was no sign of the statues said to be saved from the old building and arranged around a wall at the rear. However, the galleon weather vane, the clock and bells were still there, and the sign for the closed casino. I took some photos and a uniformed man came out and told me to stop. I'd assumed the hotel was empty but it seems it was being used as temporary homes for Ukranian refugees. That's nice.

Earlier this month, Dec2023, I was ambling past when I noticed that new hoardings were around the hotel at ground level announcing renovations were underway, to be revealed in Spring 2025. Eek! That's a long way off and who knows what blandification could occur here seeing as what happened behind Debenhams when a totally unique car park from this era was completely destroyed. Where is façadism when you really need it?

I raced round the the back of The Imperial and found the main building was fenced off and looked to be empty. The pic above right shows a small grey quadrant at the bottom left. I'm sad to report that was where the fountain was. And here's how it looked in June:

And looking back out to the street, towards Russell Square:

Some lovely, simple but effective, blue tiles are visible just above that traffic cone. They arestill there. I say are in the sense of three weeks ago. I hope they get saved or, at least, repurposed:

I need to find out what's happening at this site. I really hope they are going to make something of this zigzag magnificence rather than just destroy it and replace it with another faceless, uninteresting glass blob. OK, so people might miss the old Gothic pile, but there are plenty of similar hotels of that era still standing, and at least here the old fusty spires were replaced with something innovative and of it's time. And groovy too. There really is nothing comparable I can think of, except perhaps the Seifert towers and the Hilton Hotel.

Do let me know if you have any further info.

St James's Place and Blue Ball Yard– so much to see

I popped in to St James's Hotel and Club yesterday afternoon to have a chat with Graham, the head concierge. We swopped stories and observations about London's quirks and unusual details and he asked me whether the lamp in adjacent Blue Ball Yard was a still powered by gas. Hmm. I didn't know, so I went to check it out.
I'd done a lot of research on gas lamps last year when planning my walking tours on the subject, so it was strange how I'd not previously investigated this particular little enclave of streets between St James's Street and the park. 

Blue Ball Yard* today gives access to the rear of The Stafford Hotel's American Bar and, yes, the wall-mounted lamp at the left side is indeed a functioning gas lantern. There is another one at the far end but it is hard to access so I'm not sure if that one too is also powered by gas. See the google streetview here.

It occurred to me that there surely must be other gas lamps in the vicinity. A logical idea, being as St James's Palace, The Mall, Carlton Terrace and St James's Park were all mostly lit by gas during the reign of George IV, so it follows that the well-to-do streets here would also be similarly illuminated.

I ventured into St James's Place, the next street down, and immediately found another wall-mounted lamp on the left of the street at No.44 and two more opposite at No2 and No8 (the green plaque commemorates Sir Francis Chichester) with a similar lantern down the turning to the left that leads to the Duke Hotel and a tall standard lamp at the end of the yard. On the left side there's also a row of low level lanterns that appear to have been completely disconnected.

More tall standard lamps can be found at the western end of the main street. most of which marked GeorgeV 1910. I'm surprised they aren't older being as others in the St James's area date from the reign of George IV.  

I counted eleven gas-powered street lamps in St James's Place and this doesn't include those on privately-owned buildings such as the impressive pair outside Spencer House or the one above the door of the Royal Ocean Racing Club, shown below centre. 

I also found some other interesting oddities along the road. For instance, there are only a few coal hole cover plates. All of them sport geometric patterns rather than overt branding although some bear the name Mason, see below left .

There is a bizarre circular cover plate near the lamp at No.45 with brass letters bearing the name of F. Devereux, silversmith, who, I am assuming lived/worked there. These discs usually show the name of the foundry/ironmonger who made/sold the plate. I've looked in old directories but I can't see anyone by the name of Devereux here. Instead, the address is listed as a lodging house in 1882 through to at least 1915 when it's shown as apartments. Any ideas?  

At the far corner, at No 26 there is a twentieth century building that you could say looks out of place with the rest of the street. It's not an office block but a Grade II* luxury apartment building designed by Sir Denys Lasdun and constructed 1959-60. It sports a RIBA architecture award plaque (that I forgot to photograph) but what I particularly like about it is the zeitgeist 1950s typeface used on some of the signage – it's very Univers Condensed Bold Italic. 

Back to the street furniture and metalwork...  just before the entrance to The Stafford Hotel, almost underneath one of the wall-mounted gas lanterns, is a rectangular man hole cover. If you've read my previous posts about this kind of thing you are probably ahead of me here in guessing that this contains twelve little squares of wood block paving, see above right which I'll add with better photos to my next group of wood block findings in another post soon (ooh the excitement!).

Finally, at the far end of the street, there is a little alley off to the right that leads to the rear gate of the St James's Hotel, the building in which I had started this mini-journey. The sunlight on the buildings yesterday afternoon was amazing, making it look more like somewhere in Italy. 

*Blue Ball Yard – I'd been mis-calling it Blue Bell Yard ever since yesterday. I originally thought it was ref to a flower or a hanging bell that with a clapper that was coloured blue. But no, it's a ball. But what blue ball? Is it a game? Was it a sign for something?  There are other Blue Ball pubs in the UK, but I have yet to find out the significance of the name. And Cabbie Blog in this link also gets his bells and balls confused. Incidentally, if you haven't already read his book about his life and observations doing The Knowledge and driving customers around London, I wholeheartedly recommend it. 

Shaftesbury Hotel ghostsign – a bargain price at a great location with breakfast and billiards

This might be the best hidden-in-plain-sight ghostsign in central London.

I have been busy pulling together some online talks about old defunct and faded signage of all kinds in central London, specifically Soho, Covent Garden and Fitzrovia. This has involved revisiting and updating my 'show and tell' folder and the accompanying notes for the central London walking tour I have been leading for the past three and a half years. 

When I first devised that route from Long Acre to Rupert Street, a friend and I test-walked it one sunny winter's day in Jan 2018. As we used the zebra crossing on Shaftesbury Avenue, heading from Seven Dials to St Giles Church, we turned to look back up Mercers Street just in case we'd missed anything and were amazed to spot a sign that neither of us in all our decades of wandering about armed with cameras had never noticed before. Way up high, facing north, there is a hand-painted sign on the back of what is now The Mercer Street Hotel.

Had it been covered and made a sudden appearance? Doubtful. We think we'd simply missed it due to the tree on the corner of Mercer Street than when in leaf as good as obliterates the sign completely for most of the year. Also, the sign is only visible from a couple of specific spots along that junction. Blink as you walk past Mercers Street and you'll miss it. See Google streetview here.

I returned to the site a few weeks later and did my best to take some photos. And I've tried again a few times since. It's difficult to get a decent view of it, because the weather, the angle of opportunity and the faded blue/white letters obscured by what looks like layers of black soot all play their part. I'm really glad that I have returned to all this because I was convinced that I had added this discovery to this site ages ago, but no, it turns out it was still lurking in my 'To Do' folder as a simple note to self.

This is what I have found out so far... 

The Shaftesbury Hotel was constructed on a site that previously George Russell's rope and twine business at 47 Great St Andrews Street (later to be renamed Monmouth Street – you'll see refs to these old street names on the road signs in the area). Images of Seven Dials, dated 1910, show the hotel covering the site of nos. 43-47, and this is corroborated by the gap in the directory for that year, hinting that the building was nearing completion. I think we can assume that the sign was painted onto the rear of the building during or shortly after construction, intended to be clearly seen by traffic coming down St Giles High Street from the junction of Tottenham Court Rd station when buildings in the vicinity were much lower than they are today. This hotel was probably at that time one of the tallest in this area.

It would have been an unusual and brave move to open a hotel here, albeit a cheap/budget one, in a district that had previously been tainted during the late Georgian era as being inhabited by thieves and prostitutes, a stone's throw from the rookeries of St Giles as depicted by Hogarth in Gin Lane. But by the 1880s the street of the Seven Dials had evolved to become merely an area where the working classes lived and worked, with a thriving street market. A clever entrepreneur must have seen the value of the central location as we do today.

I have done my best to decipher the wording on sign. I've boosted the pics using Photoshop and then on tracing paper hand-rendered the words that that are visible. My pencil marks indicate a few bits that I am unsure of, such as the wording above BREAKFAST which is probably BEDROOM being there are hints of a B and two OOs there. The big 4 looks to have been in a circle and was probably 4/- (four shillings) per night for a room, which equates to about £25 today. Wow! 

Billiards was very popular in the late Victorian era, especially within Temperance Halls, and I wonder if this was constructed as a Temperance Hotel being as the design of the building is similar to some others that were constructed in that era, such as The Kenilworth in Gt Russell Street near the British Museum, where activities and good food would have been an attraction rather than alcohol. Note that a bar/drinks lounge is 'missing' from the list of facilities offered on this painted sign. The 1915 directory sheds no light on this idea and simply shows it as Shaftesbury Hotel, Thos. Gordon (London) Ltd., at 44, Great St Andrew Street.

I also found this ad for the hotel in a 1953 guide book to London. As you can see, it is advertising the hotel's prime location as close to Theatreland and the West End – the heart of London. The price still equates to about £25 a night. You'll be hard-pushed to find a warm cupboard for rent at that price today!

An online search throws up no additional info or photos, indicating that no one else has spotted this corker of a ghost sign either. Ooh I feel like a treasure hunter who found gold! 

I am still intrigued about the two lines under BILLARDS which are not visible from the street... Can anyone give me access to the roof of the Odeon, Shaftesbury Ave?!

UPDATE 20th May 2022 – Sam and Roy @ghostsigns have finally caught up with me about this – they posted this 1917 ad on Twitter which backs up the wording on the painted sign and also shows T. Gordon (London) Ltd. as proprietors, suggesting the company also managed other hotels/properties across the country. Something to look into another day.

 

Jane's Connect. What links these pics?

Here's a little quiz for Christmas, though unlike these cards it has got nothing to do with the time of year or Christmas at all.
All of the above are in central London and are linked in some way. Can you identify the link?

12 clues; some quickly identifiable, others a bit tougher (but you only get four clues on Only Connect).

You Animal, You! by Charlotte Cory

A couple of weeks ago I went to the book launch of 'You Animal, You!', a printed collection of Charlotte Cory's wonderful montage photographs.
At first glance you might look at these Photoshopped images and think they are just animal heads superimposed on Victorian people. But, if you look again, you will see that all of these stuffed animals that Charlotte has found in various museums have been carefully chosen and photographed at specific angles so that they sit perfectly on the body of the person shown on the sepia Victorian calling card. (Calling cards were the equivalent of today's business card, except that Victorians, would include a self portrait. These cards were also a good marketing tool for the photographer whose name and address often appeared at the bottom.)
Charlotte's clever idea is to play with the words 'shot' and 'captured', referring in different ways to the dead animals and the photographed people.
I had a good chat to Charlotte. She is a prolific and inspirational woman; an artist, novelist, photographer and playwright, with a love of history. Plus she tells me she too collects things such as clay pipes. Ooh.
The book is jam-packed full of Charlotte's poignant and often amusing images. But I am not keen on the random spotty or coloured backgrounds which I think distract from the images, and many of the pictures that have been used full bleed have lost valuable information in the gutter area. Also, there is evidently no typography skill involved, which is a huge shame, especially seeing the wealth of inspiration on the calling cards and the labels of lotions and potions featured on the endpapers. And the letter-spaced headings with their heavy double underscores, combined with the justified copy is really clunky. I dunno; perhaps it's only me who notices these things, design for print, especially books and brochures, being my day job.
Ah well, never mind...
I just remembered this... A while ago Peter Watts asked, what would you collect if money and available space were no restriction? Easy...! Bizarre taxidermy! Like these, recently on show at Peter Blake's 'Museum of Everything'.
The book launch was in the Royal Suite of the wonderful St Pancras Hotel. With a name like 'Royal" I'd expected the room to be as wonderful as the adjacent renovated areas of the hotel, but it was rather a let down – all hotel-y with over-large sofas and floor-to-ceiling shelving containing arty bits that looked like they had been bought from Heals.

After quaffing a few tasty canapés and downing a couple of G&Ts I spent ages admiring the stairwell and adjoining corridors. It's just lovely. And assymetical. And every dragon column is different, and the clashing patterns and textures somehow work brilliantly together.
The last time I'd been in there was about 15 years ago on an Open House day. On the wall behind me as I type this is a page of the Independent dated July 1995 that shows the stairwell pre renovation and I am happy to report that it looks like all 'they' have done is clean it up a bit and add some wonderfully gaudy carpet.
On the ground floor I stood for ages chatting to a member of staff who was sporting a security badge. He had extensive knowledge about the history of the building. I commented that his enthusiasm was wonderful and asked if it was part of his job. No, he said, it wasn't – he just loves working there and has made it his business to find out as much as possible. How lovely. And what a lovely place to work.
If you want to see the building pre-renovation you need only watch this video (shot in one take!) though, like me, you will probably have the song as an ear worm for the rest of the day now... and note how little Mrs B contributes in it except for some weird faces she pulls towards the end!

The Connaught is lovely

On the corner of Mount Row and Chandos Place, opposite where there used to be an 18th century workhouse, sits the wonderful Connaught Hotel.

I've never been the kind of person who has the money and inclination for prestigious expensive hotels, preferring low budget rooms with a good bed and shower (after all I will be out all day tramping the streets with my camera, meeting people and seeing the city, not lounging about in my room), but the Connaught could change my mind. Hmmmm, now all I need is the means.... If I did have money to burn I think I'd stay there a few times so that I could try out all the different types of rooms.

Most hotels are having to constantly revamp their suites to keep up with all the high tech nonsense we all seem to need these days yet, unlike other hotels I have visited, The Connaught has managed to achieve this without loss of style or elegance. In addition to this, the communal areas are wonderful; the staircases, carpets and floors, and the two little lifts, one dark purple and the other dark green... it's like stepping into a film set.

The ground floor is given over to some top quality bars and restaurants; and they are really good. I had some lovely canapés and martinis (and champagne too!) in the award-winning Connaught Bar but had no time to stay longer to sample the restaurant. If anyone wants to take me to Hélène Darroze at the Connaught any time, my response is 'yes please!'.

Oh, and there's spa in there somewhere. I wasn't interested in checking that out as I'm not really into spas, but I hear their Aman spa is good. What is with hotels and spas? Isn't the great big bath in the room enough?! I do like the idea of outdoor spas of old though; taking the waters and all that. I've never said or written 'spa' so many times. Spa spa spa.

Finally, situated on the pavement outside the main entrance to the hotel is the marvellous and bizarre Tadao Ando water installation, which I have yet to see in action. I have heard it looks great after dark when it's all lit up and the steam is in action.

Are you hot or cool?

This isn't about the UK's changing weather. Although it's true that this 'summer' has so far been very changeable; we have had rain, wind, hot, cold, humidity, damp... etc.

No, this post is about a question I have been asking friends:

Would you rather be described as 'hot' or 'cool'?

Discuss.

Top: Stoke Newington, Stroud Green, Hampstead, Bloomsbury

Bottom: Southwark, Battersea, Smithfield, Barnsbury

Bar Boulud at The Mandarin Oriental

Earlier this week, thanks to Travel Onion, I went for a lunchtime treat in Knightsbridge with a few other London bloggers. I wasn't sure this was gonna be my kind of thing as when I started this blog I wanted to be specifically about things on the streets. But I am so glad I accepted the invitation as the place and the people were lovely.

I'd have been happy just wandering the hotel's corridors, lobbies and staircases as the inside of the building is beautiful – a lovely mix of old England with touches of the East – but we were also taken inside some of the rooms including the spa, the beautiful and ornate dining room that overlooks Hyde Park, the original entrance on the park side of the building, a standard room (did they say approx £800 a night depending on the season?!) and then to the Royal Suite which was stunning... if you are interested in the price for a night there, then multiply that last room rate by about twelve!! If anyone needs a roommate for a night, just get in touch. (Actually, does that sound a bit forward?!)

After our tour we were treated to lunch in Bar Boulud on the ground floor. The food was scrumdicious (my own word!); plates of charcuterie consisting of patés, hams and terrines, plus seafood platters and salads, followed by a main course, my choice being one of their fantastic hand-made burgers – the one I had had foie gras in it but is only available on Sundays and Mondays.

Oh, and we had four different wines, all of which were explained (what's the word I want here?) to us by the Head Sommelier. Excellent! In a nut shell, I'd love to eat there again, especially as I was impressed at the competitive prices. But I suspect it'll be hard to get a table there soon as the place is becoming very popular. Rightly so.

Oh, and if it's not enough the hotel having David Boulud, it seems Heston Blumenthal is opening a restaurant there soon too, though the hotel's site says Autumn 2010.

And the light fittings throughout the whole building are gorgeous.