Ritz Hotel
Encyclopedia
Hotel
A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. The provision of basic accommodation, in times past, consisting only of a room with a bed, a cupboard, a small table and a washstand has largely been replaced by rooms with modern facilities, including en-suite bathrooms...
located in Piccadilly
Piccadilly
Piccadilly is a major street in central London, running from Hyde Park Corner in the west to Piccadilly Circus in the east. It is completely within the city of Westminster. The street is part of the A4 road, London's second most important western artery. St...
and overlooking Green Park
Green Park
-External links:*...
in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
.
History
SwissSwitzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
hotelier César Ritz
César Ritz
César Ritz was a Swiss hotelier and founder of several hotels, most famously the Hôtel Ritz, in Paris and The Ritz Hotel in London...
, former manager of the Savoy Hotel
Savoy Hotel
The Savoy Hotel is a hotel located on the Strand, in the City of Westminster in central London. Built by impresario Richard D'Oyly Carte with profits from his Gilbert and Sullivan operas, the hotel opened on 6 August 1889. It was the first in the Savoy group of hotels and restaurants owned by...
, opened the hotel on 24 May 1906. The building is neoclassical
Neoclassicism
Neoclassicism is the name given to Western movements in the decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that draw inspiration from the "classical" art and culture of Ancient Greece or Ancient Rome...
in the Louis XVI
Louis XVI of France
Louis XVI was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and Navarre until 1791, and then as King of the French from 1791 to 1792, before being executed in 1793....
manner, built during the Belle Époque
Belle Époque
The Belle Époque or La Belle Époque was a period in European social history that began during the late 19th century and lasted until World War I. Occurring during the era of the French Third Republic and the German Empire, it was a period characterised by optimism and new technological and medical...
to resemble a stylish Parisian block of flats, over arcades that consciously evoked the Rue de Rivoli. Its architects were Charles Mewès
Charles Mewès
Charles Frédéric Mewès was a French architect and designer.-Biography:Charles Frédéric Mewès was born at Strasbourg. He came from a Jewish family of Baltic origin. The whole family left Alsace in 1870 during the Prussian invasion. At 20, he joined the office of Jean-Louis Pascal, a then famous...
, who had previously designed Ritz's Hôtel Ritz Paris
Hôtel Ritz Paris
The Hôtel Ritz is a grand palatial hotel in the heart of Paris, the 1st arrondissement. It overlooks the octagonal border of the Place Vendôme at number 15...
, and Arthur Davis
Arthur Joseph Davis
Arthur Joseph Davis was a British architect. Davis studied at the Paris École des Beaux-Arts in the 1890s. He was the co-partner in the firm Mewes & Davis, with Charles Mewès. The firm designed the elevations and interior decoration of the London Ritz Hotel which introduced modern French comfort...
, with engineering collaboration by the Swedish engineer Sven Bylander. It was the first substantial steel
Steel
Steel is an alloy that consists mostly of iron and has a carbon content between 0.2% and 2.1% by weight, depending on the grade. Carbon is the most common alloying material for iron, but various other alloying elements are used, such as manganese, chromium, vanadium, and tungsten...
-frame structure in London.
Auguste Escoffier
Georges Auguste Escoffier was a French chef, restaurateur and culinary writer who popularized and updated traditional French cooking methods. He is a legendary figure among chefs and gourmands, and was one of the most important leaders in the development of modern French cuisine...
to provide cuisine
Haute cuisine
Haute cuisine or grande cuisine was characterised by French cuisine in elaborate preparations and presentations served in small and numerous courses that were produced by large and hierarchical staffs at the grand restaurants and hotels of Europe.The 17th century chef and writer La Varenne...
to match the opulence of the hotel's decorations; he placed a special bell in the entryway by which the doorman could notify the staff of the impending arrival of royalty. The high standards to which he held his staff and the ultimate luxury which he provided his guests had been entirely foreign to Victorian
Victorian era
The Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...
Londoners, and the sensation he caused in the hotel industry precipitated a dramatic shift in that industry's focus.
The Ritz is also renowned for it's supreme catering service, as well as using it's fine rooms for conferencing between executives and directors of multi-national firms.
The hotel was owned for some time by the Bracewell-Smith family
Bracewell Smith
Sir Bracewell Smith, Bt was a British businessman and Conservative Party politician.-Biography:Born in Keighley, Yorkshire, he attended Wesley Place Primary School in the town. He started as a pupil teacher and attended Leeds University before entering business...
who also had significant stakes in the nearby Park Lane Hotel
Park Lane Hotel
The Park Lane Hotel is a 5 Star hotel on Piccadilly, London.The hotel was built in the 1920s in the Grand Art Deco Style by Sir Bracewell Smith. The building is a fine example with a mansard roof and Portland stone facade...
. However the oil crisis in the early 1970s affected business and prompted the family to sell their stake to Trafalgar House in 1976 for £2.75m. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2003/04/11/db1101.xml&sSheet=/opinion/2003/04/11/ixopright.html
David and Frederick Barclay
David and Frederick Barclay
Sir David Rowat Barclay and Sir Frederick Hugh Barclay are British businessmen. The identical twin brothers have very substantial business interests primarily in media, retail and property. The Sunday Times Rich List of 2007 estimated their wealth at £1.8 billion...
purchased the ailing hotel for £80 Million from Trafalgar House
Trafalgar House (company)
Trafalgar House Public Limited Company was a British conglomerate with interests in property investment, property development, engineering, construction, shipping, hotels, energy and publishing...
, in October 1995, through their company Ellerman Investments. They spent eight years and £40 Million restoring it to its former grandeur.
Facilities
The Ritz's most famous facility is the Palm Court, an opulently decorated cream-colored Louis XVI setting for the world-famous institution that is "Tea at the Ritz", (though, strictly speaking, Tea at the SavoySavoy Hotel
The Savoy Hotel is a hotel located on the Strand, in the City of Westminster in central London. Built by impresario Richard D'Oyly Carte with profits from his Gilbert and Sullivan operas, the hotel opened on 6 August 1889. It was the first in the Savoy group of hotels and restaurants owned by...
is the original version) once frequented by King Edward VII
Edward VII of the United Kingdom
Edward VII was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions and Emperor of India from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910...
, Charlie Chaplin
Charlie Chaplin
Sir Charles Spencer "Charlie" Chaplin, KBE was an English comic actor, film director and composer best known for his work during the silent film era. He became the most famous film star in the world before the end of World War I...
, Sir Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...
, Charles de Gaulle
Charles de Gaulle
Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle was a French general and statesman who led the Free French Forces during World War II. He later founded the French Fifth Republic in 1958 and served as its first President from 1959 to 1969....
, Noel Coward
Noël Coward
Sir Noël Peirce Coward was an English playwright, composer, director, actor and singer, known for his wit, flamboyance, and what Time magazine called "a sense of personal style, a combination of cheek and chic, pose and poise".Born in Teddington, a suburb of London, Coward attended a dance academy...
, Judy Garland
Judy Garland
Judy Garland was an American actress and singer. Through a career that spanned 45 of her 47 years and for her renowned contralto voice, she attained international stardom as an actress in musical and dramatic roles, as a recording artist and on the concert stage...
, Evelyn Waugh
Evelyn Waugh
Arthur Evelyn St. John Waugh , known as Evelyn Waugh, was an English writer of novels, travel books and biographies. He was also a prolific journalist and reviewer...
and Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother
Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon
Elizabeth Angela Marguerite Bowes-Lyon was the queen consort of King George VI from 1936 until her husband's death in 1952, after which she was known as Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, to avoid confusion with her daughter, Queen Elizabeth II...
. The Rivoli Bar, built in the Art Deco
Art Deco
Art deco , or deco, is an eclectic artistic and design style that began in Paris in the 1920s and flourished internationally throughout the 1930s, into the World War II era. The style influenced all areas of design, including architecture and interior design, industrial design, fashion and...
style, was designed in 2001 by interior designer Tessa Kennedy
Tessa Kennedy
Tessa Georgina Kennedy , better known as Tessa Kennedy, is a British interior designer, whose clients include multi-national corporations, royalty, celebrities and many European hotels, restaurants and clubs...
, to look like a bar on the Orient Express
Orient Express
The Orient Express is the name of a long-distance passenger train service originally operated by the Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits. It ran from 1883 to 2009 and is not to be confused with the Venice-Simplon Orient Express train service, which continues to run.The route and rolling stock...
. A table at the restaurant still needs to be booked weeks in advance.
The hotel has six private dining rooms, the Marie Antoinette Suite and the rooms within William Kent House.
In 2006 the William Kent House was opened as an extension of The Ritz. The William Kent House has been converted into a complete function area with the Music Room, the Burlington Room, the Queen Elizabeth Room and the William Kent room. The William Kent House also accommodates three of The Ritz' top suites: The Arlington Suite, the Royal Suite as well as the Prince of Wales Suite.
The Ritz Club is a casino in the basement of the hotel. However, unlike most casinos, it requires a fee to enter. The games are considered "high stakes" in that the minimum bet is usually very high. They offer roulette
Roulette
Roulette is a casino game named after a French diminutive for little wheel. In the game, players may choose to place bets on either a single number or a range of numbers, the colors red or black, or whether the number is odd or even....
, black jack
Black Jack
Black Jack or Blackjack may refer to:- Games and cards :* Blackjack, the gambling game* Black Jack , also known as Switch, a name given to some variations of Crazy Eights in United Kingdom* The black Jack playing card- Products :...
, baccarat
Baccarat
Baccarat is a card game, played at casinos and by gamblers. It is believed to have been introduced into France from Italy during the reign of King Charles VIII , and it is similar to Faro and Basset...
, and poker
Poker
Poker is a family of card games that share betting rules and usually hand rankings. Poker games differ in how the cards are dealt, how hands may be formed, whether the high or low hand wins the pot in a showdown , limits on bet sizes, and how many rounds of betting are allowed.In most modern poker...
, as well as some slot machines.
Fire
On 27 January 2007, around 300 people were evacuated to the nearby May Fair HotelThe May Fair
The May Fair is a historic hotel with a modern design, set in the heart of Mayfair, London. It is located on Stratton Street, within close proximity of Piccadilly, Bond Street, Knightsbridge, Green Park and Buckingham Palace....
following a fire alarm in the hotel. No one was hurt in the blaze, which started in the basement casino kitchen's extraction vents. The Ritz casino only suffered "minor damage".