The Connaught

Carlos Place runs between Grosvenor Square and Mount Street in Mayfair, and The Connaught, a luxury hotel in London, stands on it. A hotel has stood on the site since 1815, when it opened as the Prince of Saxe Coburg Hotel; the present building dates from 1897 and took the name Connaught in 1917. Part of the Maybourne group with Claridge's and The Berkeley, it is known for its carved mahogany staircase, for Hélène Darroze's restaurant, which has held three Michelin stars since 2021, and for the Connaught Bar.

History

Alexander Grillion opened the Prince of Saxe Coburg Hotel on Carlos Place in 1815 for the aristocratic families who kept houses in Mayfair and needed lodging for their guests. The hotel was rebuilt between 1894 and 1897 to the designs of Lewis Isaacs and Henry Florence. In 1917, with anti-German feeling running high during the First World War, its name was changed to The Connaught after Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught, the third son of Queen Victoria.

During the Second World War General Charles de Gaulle lived at the hotel as leader of the Free French. In the decades after the war the Connaught acquired a name for a reserved manner, a long-serving staff and a dining room under the chef Michel Bourdin, who ran the kitchen from 1975 to 2001. The Maybourne group closed the hotel in 2007 for a renovation that added a new wing on Carlos Place and reopened it in 2008.

Architecture and design

The 1897 building is red brick with stone dressings and a corner entrance under a canopy. Inside, the carved mahogany staircase of 1897 rises through the full height of the house and is the hotel's best-known feature. The 2008 renovation, with interiors by Guy Oliver, kept the panelling and fireplaces of the old wing and added a new wing in matching brick. In 2011 the Japanese architect Tadao Ando designed Silence, a granite water feature in front of the hotel on Carlos Place that releases a cloud of mist at intervals. The Connaught Bar was designed by David Collins for the 2008 reopening.

Rooms and suites

The hotel has 121 rooms and suites divided between the original building and the 2008 wing. Rooms in the old wing have the higher ceilings and the original fireplaces; those in the new wing look over Carlos Place and Mount Street Gardens.

Dining

Hélène Darroze at The Connaught opened in 2008 and received its third Michelin star in the 2021 guide. Jean-Georges at The Connaught, a brasserie by Jean-Georges Vongerichten, opened in 2017 in the corner room facing Carlos Place. The Connaught Bar, run by Agostino Perrone, was named the best bar in the world by the World's 50 Best Bars in 2020 and 2021, and the Coburg Bar keeps the name of the original hotel.

Wellness

The Aman Spa at The Connaught, the only Aman spa in Britain, occupies the lower floors with treatment rooms, a swimming pool and a fitness room.

Weddings and events

The Connaught hosts weddings, private dinners and meetings in a set of private rooms on the ground and first floors, and is licensed for civil ceremonies. The scale is that of a private house: small ceremonies, family dinners, boards and launches rather than conferences.

Location

Carlos Place links Grosvenor Square to Mount Street, with the Mount Street Gardens behind the hotel and the shops of Mount Street on its doorstep. Bond Street station, on the Central, Jubilee and Elizabeth lines, is a seven-minute walk, Green Park ten. Count about 45 minutes by car to London Heathrow, less on the Elizabeth line from Bond Street.