History
She has been “Dolled” up over the years to
make sure that throughout history she has been looking her best for
her “Hansom” cabbies who used to pull their carriages up outside
her prestigious steps! The Hansom cabbies have all but left our
streets now but Hotel Russell still looks as good as the day it
opened in 1898. Clad in “the au lait” (Tea with milk) terracotta,
it stands out as a work of art in Bloomsbury.
At 114 years of age the building has seen its
fair share of famous faces. Literary giants such as Virginia Woolf
and William Butler Yeats have walked our marble clad hallways and
walked beneath the four queens who watch over the buildings façade.
Their majesties, Anne, Elizabeth, Mary and Victoria have become
synonymous with this Victorian masterpiece and rightly they
should.
The architects of Hotel Russell took influence
from Chateau de Madrid, a splendid palace built by the court of
Francis I of France to replace the now world famous Louvre
which, if you can imagine, he had grown out of. The architects took
the opportunity to place the majestic statues on the front of the
building and each of the Prime Ministers of the British Empire
along its gable walls.
You may actually know a piece of history about
Hotel Russell without even realising. Have you ever “dolled”
yourself up for a night out with friends? Well if you have, then
you might wish to know that this saying actually originates from
Charles Fitzroy Doll, the designer of not only our restaurant but
also that of RMS Titanic.
As the third purpose built hotel in London, we
hold a special place in the city’s history and continue to do so to
this day. Roll on the next 114 years.