The Langham, London

In 1865 the first purpose-built grand hotel in Europe opened on Portland Place, at the top of Regent Street, and The Langham, London is still a luxury hotel at that address. Bombed in 1940 and occupied by the BBC for decades, it returned to use as a hotel in 1991. It has the Palm Court, the Artesian bar, a long roll of literary guests, and 23 event rooms totalling about 2,500 square metres.

History

The Langham was built by a company of investors on the site of Langham House and opened in June 1865, with the Prince of Wales among the guests at the opening ceremony. It was the largest hotel in the city and the first in Europe conceived on the scale of the American grand hotels, with hydraulic lifts and a staff of hundreds.

In August 1889 the Philadelphia publisher J. M. Stoddart dined at the hotel with Arthur Conan Doyle and Oscar Wilde; the evening produced The Sign of Four and The Picture of Dorian Gray, both commissioned for Lippincott's Monthly Magazine. Conan Doyle set scenes of The Sign of Four and A Scandal in Bohemia at the Langham. Napoleon III lived there in exile after 1870, Mark Twain stayed on his visits to London, and Antonín Dvořák was a guest.

The hotel was damaged by a bomb in September 1940, when its water tank burst and flooded the building. After the war it was bought by the BBC, whose Broadcasting House stands opposite, and used as offices and studios. The Hong Kong group Great Eagle bought it from the BBC in the 1980s and reopened it as a hotel in 1991; it has carried the Langham name alone since 2004 and is the founding house of Langham Hospitality Group.

Architecture and design

The building was designed by John Giles in an Italianate style, with a stone facade of seven storeys rising above Portland Place, and is listed Grade II. The entrance leads to a lobby and the Palm Court, the room where afternoon tea has been served since the hotel opened. The public rooms were restored in a series of refurbishments through the 2000s that returned the plasterwork and the ballroom to their Victorian proportions.

Rooms and suites

The hotel has around 380 rooms and suites across the original building and its later wings. Rooms face Portland Place, Regent Street or the inner courtyards; the largest suites occupy the corners of the upper floors with views down Regent Street.

Dining

The Palm Court serves afternoon tea through the day. Artesian, the bar named after the artesian well that supplied the hotel in the nineteenth century, is known for its cocktails. The Landau is the main restaurant, and The Wigmore, on the Regent Street corner of the building, is a pub run by the hotel. Together they account for the six restaurants and bars of the house.

Wellness

The hotel's spa, Chuan, on the lower floors, includes a swimming pool, treatment rooms and a fitness club, one of the few pools in a hotel of this district.

Weddings and events

The Langham has 23 event rooms totalling about 2,500 square metres, from boardrooms to a ballroom, and hosts weddings, receptions, conferences and dinners. The ballroom suits large seated dinners and wedding receptions; the smaller rooms on the first floor suit meetings and private lunches. The hotel is licensed for civil ceremonies.

Location

Portland Place runs north from Regent Street to Regent's Park, with Broadcasting House opposite the hotel. Oxford Circus station on the Bakerloo, Central and Victoria lines is five minutes on foot; Regent's Park and Marylebone High Street are ten. The drive to London Heathrow takes about 45 minutes.