Before the second world war Sir Edwin Lutyens, a British architect famous for imaginatively adapting traditional styles, was commissioned to design the YWCA Central Club for the women of London on Great Russell Street.
By CarolineTapp-McDougall
Today, Lutyens neo-Georgian building has been respectfully refurbished as a timeless tribute to its illustrious social and architectural past—a stay-worthy gem for classical aficionados and literary buffs alike.
As the story goes…. after a fundraising appeal initiated in 1924 by the Duchess of York with the Marchioness of Londonderry as President, that used slogans like, “Be a brick and buy a brick” and “Stand by your girls”, Lutyens designed what came to be known as, “one of the finest club buildings in the world”. Over the years, additions and changes were made but the social Club prevailed.
During the War Years, (1939–1945), despite being partially damaged by bombs, the building was transformed into a residence for service men and women and a sick bay for residents and visitors. Post war, however, Club recovered and continued to thrive into the mid-nineties when low membership and financial challenges led to its sale.
Preserving the past
The new owners, Jury’s Doyle Hotel Group, were eventually granted permission to convert the somewhat run-down premises into a tony 170-bedroom hotel. Work included preserving what they could of the original Lutyens furnishings and design features, restoring the buildings interiors and exteriors and eventually covering the YWCA’s original swimming pool on the lower level with a wooden floor.
When Jury’s Doyle split in 2007, the Doyle family took ownership and invested what was necessary to truly bring the Lutyens masterpiece back to life as the Bloomsbury Hotel. Unique, fashionable and overflowing with heritage, all a guest whose looking for a voguish London bolthole could ask for.
Most recently the hotel’s iconic library, which remained largely unchanged from when it was built in 1932, was brought back to life and dedicated to Seamus Heaney, an Irish poet, playwright and lecturer Seamus was a former resident of the Hotel who was very active in the city’s literary scene. Seamus attended the reopening. Rumour has it that there might still plans afoot to try and restore the pool but that, we’re told, is material for another story.
Bibliophiles, artists and poets
The hotel gets its name from The Bloomsbury Group, a vibrant collection writers, intellectuals, artists and philosophers, named for the area of London where they lived in the 1920’s. Just minutes from the British Museum and Covent Garden.
True to its artistic heritage, the Bloomsbury is also keyed into the vibrant London theatre scene in the West End. Not only does the hotel have a partnership with the Donmar Warehouse but its within easy reach of the famous theatre district for those who want to stay ‘and play”.
The authentic Dalloway Terrace and the Coral Room bar which are in high demand for dining, live Jazz and fancy cocktails are a nod to its Bloomsbury’s Group roots. Addictive by nature afternoon tea is a collaboration with master chocolatiers Charbonnel et Walker that challenges the classic status quo. An impressive re-invention of a classic.
Time to linger?
Today the Bloomsbury is a 153-room and suite luxury hotel, front-entranced off Great Russell Street in Central London. Authentic, boujee and tastefully styled with precision attention to detailit’s known for top notch service that can discreetly accommodate both business and family travellers. Staying for a single night, or lingering for longer. And for the little ones, we discover whimsical play tents, board games and bedtime milk and cookies for kids (and adults too if that’s your pleasure. Take afternoon tea in the Coral Room, a Brudnizki-designed Grand Salon Bar, or a cocktail in the Club Bar.
