The Langham, London | |
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General information | |
Location | 1c Portland Place, Regent Street, London, England |
Coordinates | 51°31′04″N00°08′37″W / 51.51778°N 0.14361°W |
Opened | 10 June 1865 |
Owner | Great Eagle Holdings |
Management | Langham Hospitality Group |
Technical details | |
Floor area | 8 |
Designations | |
Other information | |
Number of rooms | 380 |
Website | |
langhamhotels.com/london |
The Langham, London, is a 5-star hotel in London, England. It is situated in the district of Marylebone on Langham Place and faces up Portland Place towards Regent's Park.
The Langham was designed by John Giles and built by Lucas Brothers between 1863 and 1865 at a cost of £300,000, equivalent to £36,230,425in 2023. [1] It was then the largest and most modern hotel in the city, featuring a hundred water closets, thirty-six bathrooms and the first hydraulic lifts in England. The opening ceremony on 10 June 1865 was performed by the Prince of Wales. After the original company was liquidated during an economic slump, new management acquired the hotel for little more than half of its construction cost, and it soon became a commercial success.
In 1867 an American former Union Army officer, James Sanderson, was appointed general manager and the hotel developed an extensive American clientele, which included Mark Twain and the financier Hetty Green. [2] It was also patronised by Napoleon III, Oscar Wilde, Dvorák, Toscanini, and Sibelius. Electric light was installed in the entrance and courtyard at the early date of 1879, and Arthur Conan Doyle set the Sherlock Holmes stories A Scandal in Bohemia and The Sign of Four partly at the Langham.
The Langham continued throughout the 20th century to be a favoured spot with members of the royal family, such as Diana, Princess of Wales, and politicians including Winston Churchill and Charles de Gaulle. Other guests included Noël Coward, Wallis Simpson, Don Bradman, Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia and Ayumi Hamasaki.
The Langham was hard hit by the Great Depression and the owners attempted to sell the site to the BBC, but Broadcasting House was built across Portland Place instead. During World War II, the hotel was used in part by the British Army until it was damaged by bombs and forced to close. After the war, it was occupied by the BBC as ancillary accommodation to Broadcasting House, and the corporation purchased it outright in 1965.
One BBC employee who stayed at the Langham was Guy Burgess, one of the Cambridge Five, a spy ring that supplied official secrets to the Soviets during the Cold War. A BBC internal memo reveals that upon being unable to access his room in the hotel late one night, Burgess attempted to break down the door with a fire extinguisher. [3]
The Palm Court became the reference library, and the restaurant a staff bar and refreshment room. [4] In 1980, the BBC unsuccessfully applied for planning permission to demolish the building and replace it with an office development designed by Norman Foster. In 1986 the BBC sold the property to the Ladbroke Group (which later purchased the non-US Hilton hotels) for £26 million and eventually reopened the hotel as the Langham Hilton in 1991 after a £100 million refurbishment.
The Langham was sold to Hong Kong–based Great Eagle Holdings in 1995. [5] The new owner extended the hotel and carried out other refurbishments between 1998 and 2000. Further renovation took place between 2004 and 2009, at an estimated cost of £80 million, restoring the hotel to its original form. Great Eagle subsequently rebadged a number of hotels in its portfolio using the "Langham" brand, creating a subsidiary, Langham Hotels International.
With a five star classification, the reconfigured Langham now has 380 rooms, a restored Palm Court which has served afternoon tea since 1865, a business centre and 15 function rooms including the Grand Ballroom.
Opening in 2024 will be the new hotel restaurant, Mimosa (replacing The Landau), while next door to the hotel is the Wigmore, a British tavern from Michel Roux Jr. The hotel is hosting The Good Front Room, a popular long-term residency from Dom Taylor, which opened due to him winning the Five Star Kitchen TV show. There is also Artesian, their cocktail bar and a private dining room. [6]
In 2019 the hotel opened a cookery school, Sauce by The Langham.
On 19 March 2010 Gyles Brandreth unveiled a City of Westminster green plaque commemorating the August 1889 meeting at the Langham between Oscar Wilde, Arthur Conan Doyle and Joseph Marshall Stoddart. Stoddart commissioned the two other men to write stories for his magazine Lippincott's Monthly Magazine . Arthur Conan Doyle wrote The Sign of Four which was published in the magazine in February 1890. Oscar Wilde wrote The Picture of Dorian Gray which was published in July 1890. [7]
The hotel featured in the James Bond film GoldenEye (1995), its entryway doubling in an exterior shot for Saint Petersburg's Grand Hotel Europe. [8] Only the exterior was filmed at the hotel, while the interior was filmed in a studio.
The Langham featured in Michael Winterbottom's film Wonderland (1999), in external shots for Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen's made-for-TV movie Winning London (2001), and in Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties (2006).[ citation needed ]
The Langham's restaurant is the primary setting for the culinary drama film Burnt , starring Bradley Cooper.[ citation needed ]
As of 2023, the Palm Court at the Langham serves as the setting for the reality TV cooking show, Five Star Chef.[ citation needed ]
At the Langhram's Palm Court takes place a scene from the book of the Italian writer Felicia Kingsley "Prima Regola: Non Innamorarsi".
In the book, Lucky (2024), by Jane Smiley, the main character stays at The Langham hotel in London in Chapter 5.
Sherlock Holmes is a fictional detective created by British author Arthur Conan Doyle. Referring to himself as a "consulting detective" in his stories, Holmes is known for his proficiency with observation, deduction, forensic science and logical reasoning that borders on the fantastic, which he employs when investigating cases for a wide variety of clients, including Scotland Yard.
A Study in Scarlet is an 1887 detective novel by British writer Arthur Conan Doyle. The story marks the first appearance of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, who would become the most famous detective duo in English literature. The book's title derives from a speech given by Holmes, a consulting detective, to his friend and chronicler Watson on the nature of his work, in which he describes the story's murder investigation as his "study in scarlet": "There's the scarlet thread of murder running through the colourless skein of life, and our duty is to unravel it, and isolate it, and expose every inch of it."
William Hooker Gillette was an American actor-manager, playwright, and stage manager in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He is best remembered for portraying Sherlock Holmes on stage and in a 1916 silent film.
The Savoy Hotel is a luxury hotel located in the Strand in the City of Westminster in central London, England. Built by the impresario Richard D'Oyly Carte with profits from his Gilbert and Sullivan opera productions, it opened on 6 August 1889. It was the first in the Savoy group of hotels and restaurants owned by Carte's family for over a century. The Savoy was the first hotel in Britain to introduce electric lights throughout the building, electric lifts, bathrooms in most of the lavishly furnished rooms, constant hot and cold running water and many other innovations. Carte hired César Ritz as manager and Auguste Escoffier as chef de cuisine; they established an unprecedented standard of quality in hotel service, entertainment and elegant dining, attracting royalty and other rich and powerful guests and diners.
"The Final Problem" is a short story by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle featuring his detective character Sherlock Holmes. It was first published in The Strand Magazine in the United Kingdom, and McClure's in the United States, under the title "The Adventure of the Final Problem" in December 1893. It appears in book form as part of the collection The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes.
"The Adventure of the Empty House", one of the 56 Sherlock Holmes short stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, is one of 13 stories in the cycle collected as The Return of Sherlock Holmes. It was first published in Collier's in the United States on 26 September 1903, and in The Strand Magazine in the United Kingdom in October 1903.
The Sign of the Four, also called The Sign of Four, is an 1890 detective novel, and it is the second novel featuring Sherlock Holmes by British writer Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Doyle wrote four novels and 56 short stories featuring the fictional detective.
The Waldorf Hilton, London, formerly known as the Waldorf Hotel, is a historic hotel in the Aldwych, London. It is part of the Hilton Hotels & Resorts chain and has a history dating back to 1908. The hotel was originally established by William Waldorf Astor, 1st Viscount Astor, a member of the prominent Astor family. The hotel features 298 guest rooms, including 19 suites.
A palm court is a large atrium with palm trees, usually in a prestigious hotel, where functions are staged, notably tea dances. Examples include the Langham Hotel (1865), Alexandra Palace (1873), the Carlton Hotel (1899), and the Ritz Hotel (1906), all in London; and the Alexandria Hotel in Los Angeles, Palace Hotel, San Francisco, Britannia Hotel in Trondheim and the Plaza Hotel in New York City. Capitalizing on their popularity, some ocean liners also had palm courts, notably the RMS Titanic (1912).
Micah Clarke is a historical adventure novel by British author Arthur Conan Doyle, published in 1889 and set during the Monmouth Rebellion of 1685 in England. The book is a bildungsroman whose protagonist, Micah Clarke, begins as a boy seeking adventure in a rather romantic and naive way, falls under the influence of an older and vastly experienced, world-weary soldier of fortune, and becomes a grown up after numerous experiences, some of them very harrowing. At the conclusion he must go into exile as a hunted outlaw, becomes a soldier of fortune himself and is launched on lifetime military career. In the process the book also records much of the history of the Monmouth Rebellion, from the point of view of someone living in 17th century England.
Sherlock Holmes is a 1932 American pre-Code film starring Clive Brook as the eponymous London detective. The movie is based on the successful stage play Sherlock Holmes by William Gillette, in turn based on the stories by Arthur Conan Doyle, and is directed by William K. Howard for the Fox Film Corporation. Brook had played Holmes previously in The Return of Sherlock Holmes and the "Murder Will Out" segment of Paramount on Parade.
Brown's Hotel is a 5-star hotel in Mayfair, London, established in 1832 and owned by Rocco Forte Hotels since July 2003. It is London's oldest luxury hotel, never having been renamed, rebuilt or relocated. Famous visitors include US President Franklin Roosevelt, Mahatma Gandhi and Diana, Princess of Wales.
The Hotel Café Royal is a five-star hotel at 68 Regent Street in Piccadilly, London. Before its conversion in 2008–2012 it was a restaurant and meeting place known as the Café Royal.
Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle was a British writer and physician. He created the character Sherlock Holmes in 1887 for A Study in Scarlet, the first of four novels and fifty-six short stories about Holmes and Dr. Watson. The Sherlock Holmes stories are milestones in the field of crime fiction.
The Sherlock Holmes is a Victorian-themed public house in Northumberland Street near Charing Cross railway station and Trafalgar Square which contains a large collection of memorabilia related to the fictional detective Sherlock Holmes. The original collection was put together for display in Baker Street in London during the Festival of Britain in 1951.
Langham Hotels International Limited, trading as Langham Hospitality Group, is a hotel operator with its headquarters in Hong Kong. Langham Hotels International Limited is wholly owned by Great Eagle Holdings, which was founded in 1963 and is listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
Undershaw is a former residence of the author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of Sherlock Holmes. The house was built for Doyle at his order to accommodate his wife's health requirements, and is where he lived with his family from 1897 to 1907. Undershaw is where Doyle wrote many of his works, including The Hound of the Baskervilles.
"The Empty Hearse" is the first episode of the third series of the BBC television series Sherlock. It was written by Mark Gatiss and stars Benedict Cumberbatch as Sherlock Holmes, Martin Freeman as Dr John Watson, and Mark Gatiss as Mycroft Holmes. It also marks the first appearance of Amanda Abbington as Mary Morstan and Lars Mikkelsen as Charles Augustus Magnussen.
John Michael Drinkrow Hardwick, known as Michael Hardwick, was an English author who was best known for writing books and radio plays which featured Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's creation Sherlock Holmes. He adapted most of the episodes of the Sherlock Holmes BBC radio series 1952–1969.
Joseph Marshall Stoddart, was an American businessman, Editor of Lippincott's Monthly Magazine from 1886 to 1894 and later of the New Science Review.