I found myself feeling a little emotional on Wednesday when I heard that the BT Tower in London had been sold to the American MCR Hotels. It joins the growing list of historically significant London buildings that have been bought up by developers to turn them into luxury hotels, several of which have recently thrown open their eye-wateringly expensive doors.
Anyone familiar with London's skyline will know the unique cylindrical, 180-metre-high BT Tower - or the Post Office Tower, as it was originally known - just south of Euston Road in Fitzrovia. If you were around in the late 1960s and early 1970s, you may have even eaten at the rotating restaurant on the 34th floor. But apart from the 360-degree full-colour LED information display installed at the top in 2009 and initially counting down to the start of the Olympics in 2012, it has become, at least for BT, a white elephant.
As a Londoner I love it, so I wonder how the project will turn out and whether regular locals, as well as less affluent tourists, will actually experience and enjoy it. Sometimes it feels like London has become Disneyland for the super-rich. Are too many heritage buildings becoming hotels for the wealthy elite? Professor Elizabeth McKellar, president of the Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain, who, like the BT Tower itself, has a refreshing 360-degree view of the situation.
"In the case of the BT Tower, I think this is very good news," says McKellar. "It is a very special building and is probably better suited for hotel use than for residential or commercial use. The importance of the BT Tower is actually its profile on the London skyline. That's the main element of historical interest: the view from Parliament Hill, the way you see it from a distance through the streets. But I also believe they will reopen the operating restaurant to the public again, which would be great."
There is no denying that these transformations breathe new life into buildings that have often been vacant or underused for long periods of time. They also provide a form of public access to buildings that often weren't there. The Chancery Rosewood, which will open in 2025 in the Eero Saarinen-designed former US Embassy on Grosvenor Square, is a case in point. Generally, only members of the public who renewed their US passports were allowed to enter the building in its previous life, and they certainly didn't get to see the fun stuff. When it reopens with a new look by architect Sir David Chipperfield, it will have hotel rooms, five restaurants, six shops and a spa.
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The transformation of the Grade II listed Edwardian Baroque Old War Office in Whitehall into Raffles London at the OWO is one of the most scrutinized hotel projects in recent years. That's not surprising, given the historic importance of the building and its past residents, including Horatio Herbert Kitchener, David Lloyd George, Winston Churchill, Anthony Eden and John Profumo. Today it has 120 rooms (from £1,100 per night) and suites, nine restaurants, three bars and a Guerlain spa. It also includes a range of private homes maintained by Raffles. The hotel opens itself to the public ten days a year through a program of free heritage tours. On other days, mere mortals can expect to spend £30 for a club sandwich or £80 for afternoon tea (plus 15 percent service) if they want to experience the hotel.
The project, which cost more than £1 billion, was a joint venture between the Hinduja Group, owned by the Hinduja family, which topped the Sunday Times Rich List in 2023, and a private investment group, Onex. The Hindujas view the OWO as a labor of love, in the neighborhood and city they have lived in for the past 40 years and are passionate about.
"We really tried to make sure that we preserved what was there, to add value to it and attract the local community," said Shalini Hinduja, who oversaw the project and is the daughter-in-law of billionaire businessman Gopichand Hinduja. . "We were very aware that a new generation should really feel welcome, intrigued and interested here. [via] delicious food and interesting art," she says.
There is no doubt that the Hindujas and their staff did a wonderful job on the hotel, but not everyone was happy. When planning permission was granted in 2017, Lancaster Gate councilor Susie Burbridge was quick to point out that there would be 85 residential flats, but (unsurprisingly) no affordable housing, as council auditors said this was not feasible for the site. "[...] We need to be able to turn to our consultants and say, 'Okay, if it's not viable, can you please tell us how we make it viable?'" Burbridge said. However, the Hindujas donated £10 million to Westminster's affordable housing fund.
The fleet of historic buildings converted into hotels that have opened in recent years includes the Ned (the former headquarters of the Midland Bank, designed by Edwin Lutyens in 1924), the Great Scotland Yard Hotel (once home to the Metropolitan Police ) and NoMad. housed in the Grade II listed Bow Street Magistrates' Court and Police Station. Current room prices for all three start at a minimum of £300 per night and can go much more - hardly accessible, especially when these prices often don't include breakfast.
More will be launched over the next 18 months, including Six Senses, which is expected to open towards the end of this year in the fantastic Art Deco former Whiteleys department store in Queensway (London's first department store, built in 1911). It will also include private homes, restaurants and shops. Interestingly, the prospect of its arrival has provoked a range of reactions among locals, some of whom are relieved that the entire building has not been allocated to apartments. There is also a feeling that the area, which has seen little investment in recent years, will see a boost. But this will inevitably cause prices to rise around it.
Another example is the Admiralty Arch hotel, a project of the Reuben Brothers and Waldorf Astoria, in the extraordinary vaulted Edwardian Grade II listed building that you walk through to reach Buckingham Palace, opening in 2025.
"I think London is becoming more and more socially stratified," says McKellar. 'In a way it goes back to the way it was in the 18th century, when the West End estates were developed for the elite and were effectively closed off. [This return] is not a good thing because cities are about interaction and many different things colliding with each other, whether they are people or [architecture]. 'Monozones' are not good for that; they lose their vitality."
"There is also the economic multiplier effect," McKellar adds. "If everything is for the super-rich, prices go up, rents go up, the types of shops change and the barriers reinforce themselves. So there is a conflict between what is good for the built fabric and what is good for the social fabric."
There is no doubt that taking over these historic buildings is not for the faint of heart and few people have the budget to do it. So unfortunately, shiny hotel groups with their international investors may be the only ones who can even think about it.
"It takes a huge commitment to work on a building on the scale of these historic hotel projects in London," says RIBA conservation architect Claire Truman. "You need to have serious financial backup to do this. And once you get on site and start work, you almost expose the building to worse consequences if financing falls through or there are further problems. So financial stability to get through this is everything."
