Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park, London

Two front doors tell the story of Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park, London. One opens onto Knightsbridge and the traffic of SW1. The other opens onto Hyde Park itself, and for much of the twentieth century only members of the royal family were allowed to use it. The red-brick and Portland-stone building went up in 1889 as Hyde Park Court, a block of residential chambers for gentlemen, and became the Hyde Park Hotel in 1902. Mandarin Oriental bought it in 1996 and has run it under its own name since.

History

Hyde Park Court was designed by Archer and Green and built on the park side of Knightsbridge, next to the cavalry barracks. Its height caused complaint at the time: nothing that tall had been allowed on the edge of the park before. The conversion to a hotel came in 1902, in the first year of Edward VII's reign, which is why the house is still described as Edwardian even though its shell is Victorian. As the Hyde Park Hotel it became a society address. Debutante dances filled the ballroom, and the young Princess Elizabeth attended dancing classes in the hotel in the 1930s.

Ownership changed several times after the Second World War. Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group acquired the hotel in 1996, renamed it and made it the group's flagship in Europe. A long refurbishment led by the Hong Kong designer Joyce Wang finished in 2018, and on 6 June that year a fire on the roof closed the hotel again within weeks of its reopening. It reopened in 2019 with the new interiors intact.

Architecture and design

The park elevation is the one to study. A tall facade of red brick with stone dressings, corner turrets and a steep roofline, it reads from the Serpentine like a grand railway hotel of the 1880s. Inside, Wang took the park as her theme: walnut, bronze and glass, lines borrowed from the 1920s, and fabrics in the greens of the plane trees outside. The Knightsbridge side is the public one, with the lobby, the Rosebery and the spa entrance. The park side holds the quieter rooms and the ballroom.

Rooms and suites

The hotel has 181 rooms and suites. Park-facing rooms look straight across Hyde Park towards the Serpentine, and the best of them have balconies or terraces. Rooms on the Knightsbridge side look onto the shops and the dome of Harvey Nichols. Suites on the upper floors are the largest in the house, and several have been fitted with their own terraces since the 2019 reopening.

Dining

Dinner by Heston Blumenthal opened in January 2011 with a menu built on historic British recipes, each dish dated to the cookbook it comes from. It holds two Michelin stars and its Meat Fruit, a chicken liver parfait disguised as a mandarin, is the dish most guests order. The Aubrey, a Japanese izakaya, opened in 2022 in the rooms that were previously Bar Boulud. The Rosebery, off the Knightsbridge lobby, serves afternoon tea.

Wellness

The Spa at Mandarin Oriental occupies the lower floors beneath the hotel and was one of the first spas the group opened outside Asia. It has an indoor swimming pool, a vitality pool, a sanarium and steam rooms, and treatment rooms arranged around a central relaxation area. The gym and the pool are open to residents and to spa members.

Weddings and events

The Ballroom is the principal event room, with chandeliers and its own foyer, and it has hosted London weddings since the Hyde Park Hotel days. The Loggia adjoins it and is used for receptions and smaller dinners. The Carlyle Suite is the usual choice for boardroom meetings and private lunches. The hotel holds a licence for civil ceremonies, so a wedding can take place entirely within the house.

Location

The address is 66 Knightsbridge, between Harvey Nichols and the park gates. Knightsbridge station on the Piccadilly line is beside the hotel, which means a direct train to Heathrow. Harrods is a few hundred metres west along Brompton Road. One Hyde Park, the Richard Rogers apartment block completed in 2011, stands next door and its residents use the hotel's services. For a luxury hotel in London with a park on the doorstep, this is the address that gives the words their literal meaning.