伦敦的best new hotel also happens to be one of its oldest. The Midland Grand, arguably the city's most recognizable Victorian-era building after the Houses of Parliament, first opened its doors in 1873. Now, after decades of vacancy and neglect, it has been refurbished as theSt. Pancras Renaissance—and never was the wordrenaissancemore aptly applied.
With its curving redbrick façade and dizzying accumulation of arches, canopies, pinnacles, and spires, the Gothic Revival hotel closely resembles a cathedral. Its original architect, the prolific Sir George Gilbert Scott (also responsible for the 1876 Albert Memorial in Kensington Gardens), is said to have come up with the whole design during a three-week seaside holiday, filling 50 sketchbooks with ideas for ornamentation. That wealth of adornment drew controversy: Scott himself deemed the structure "possiblytoo goodfor its purpose," while theQuarterly Review称之为“不一致的风格和庸俗in detail," complaining, "There is no relief or quiet in any part of the work."
Nevertheless, the hotel was one of the finest and busiest of its day and remained in business until 1935. Converted into low-grade offices, the building eventually fell into disrepair and faced demolition; only after the exterior was cleaned and restored in 1993 did a new generation recognize its potential. The decision to move London's Eurostar train terminal to the St. Pancras station finally guaranteed the structure's future—and contemplating the gleaming modern concourse from Scott's historic building is a thrilling experience.
Particularly striking is the ingenuity with which the conversion's architects, the London firmRHWL, have incorporated outside space. A former taxi rank is now part of the lobby, paved with granite and Yorkstone and covered by a glass roof whose joists are painted gray-blue to match the arches of the station. Look closely here and throughout the public spaces and you will see the abundance of detail in Scott's design. The old booking office, now a comfortable bar and restaurant, features paneling with 173 unique carved flowers, while the capitals of facing Gothic arches depict miniature railway personnel, including a brakeman, engineer, telegraph boy, and guard. (A second restaurant, the Gilbert Scott—whose renovation was overseen by architectDavid Collinsand chef Marcus Wareing—is statelier, with Connemara marble columns and a Greek-key frieze.)
The building's greatest glory is its Grand Staircase, a sinuous cantilevered construction with wrought-iron balustrades rising gracefully through three floors to a vaulted ceiling. The deep-red walls of the stairwell re-create a decorative scheme from 1901; in the first floor corridors, elaborate peacock-motif stencils—long hidden beneath layers of white—have been resurrected.
"The work is extraordinary," says Paddy Pugh, London's planning director for the UK conservation agencyEnglish Heritage. "They've done an absolutely superb job. I expect it to mop up every conservation award for the rest of this year." Gavin Stamp, one of Britain's foremost Victorian experts, also approves, calling the $325 million renovation "thorough, conscientious, and good."
Private apartments built by the project's London-based developer, theManhattan Loft Corporation, left space for only 38 hotel accommodations, so a new wing was erected to house 207 more. Be sure to request one of the old rooms, which are full of character, with ceilings up to 18 feet high (the new lodgings bear a simplicity worlds away from Scott's ornate vision). Across the hotel, modish contemporary furnishings tie it to the present, while the friendly staff relieves it of the stuffiness associated with too many grand British establishments.
Fronted by busy Euston Road and with the King's Cross and Euston railway stations close by, the hotel is perhaps not in an area you would choose for a quiet stroll. On the other hand, if you're catching a train to mainland Europe or northern England, you couldn't be better placed. And for anyone who loves Victorian architecture, the St. Pancras Renaissance will unquestionably be a destination in itself.
