It’s fantastic to have the ability to embrace historical past in such a luxurious. What’s so particular about this lodge, London Marriott Lodge County Corridor is its distinctive location. Not solely is it reverse the enduring Massive Ben, however you additionally hear its bells booming and reverberating each fifteen minutes. It’s so soothing and reassuring.
Situated on the South Financial institution, I had a front-row seat of the River Thames, Westminster Abbey, the Homes of Parliament, and Westminster Bridge. On this very bridge, the poet Wordsworth composed the strains: “Boring would he be of soul who might move by a sight so touching in its majesty.”
Waterloo railway station may be very shut, and I might stroll straight to the London Eye and Sea Life London Aquarium. This lodge occupies London’s former County Corridor, which was opened by King George V in 1922, because the headquarters of the native authorities in London.
On the skin, the structure is an Edwardian Baroque constructing; it’s made out of Portland stone and appears timeless. The lodge has a sweeping façade and is huge, occupying six flooring. Down a discrete however grand entrance, I got here inside to a gorgeous, broad foyer with a heat and welcoming huge authentic marble hearth. Right here and all through, the wealthy picket options mix completely with varied modern smooth furnishings, and a small florist retains all of the rooms filled with contemporary blooms.
The curved corridors have arched roofs, and they’re punctuated attractively with marble consul tables and potted vegetation in elegant niches. With seven miles of those corridors inside the constructing, you may assume you had been in a maze, however every thing is completely signposted, and the primary public rooms are shut to one another. Cleverly they’re organized to include completely different angles of the River Thames over which the lodge is proudly positioned. It’s so mesmerizing like a present ceaselessly being enacted with boats of all sizes and styles getting into each instructions about their each day enterprise.
A powerful round, glitzy, and jazzy bar unites everybody centrally. All are held beneath the signature artisan chandelier, the gilded brass, and inside its modern fold, the very high-backed mustard Chesterfield armchairs. The bar leads straight by way of its sturdy Doric columns and alongside the parquet flooring to Gillray’s Steakhouse and Bar. It options wood-paneled partitions with marble tables and loads of daylight to look out. The specialty right here is steak although vegetarians have a wholesome selection. It’s splendidly spacious, moderately priced, and the helpings are beneficiant.
Close by is The Library, which has a completely completely different really feel. It’s the place politicians got here to review. It’s staged at each ends by well-built fireplaces and is an extended gallery filled with encased books. Above are marble busts of English political dignitaries. It’s so genuine and steeped in its earlier incarnation. Right here visitors benefit from the Conventional British Afternoon Tea, and I had a scrumptious served breakfast; it was so spoiling to not queue up behind others at buffet tables for as soon as.
Upstairs, issues are extra trendy, with orange circles on the carpets and a Penguin e-book sample by every ground’s lifts.
There are 206 rooms, 12 suites, and seven spectacular balcony suites (with charges beginning at $474 per room per evening). My suite was extraordinarily comfy, with profitable sound insulation, stopping me from listening to the vacationers strolling alongside the riverside beneath. Mine was carpeted in muted gray and white, offset by burnt-orange armchairs and colourful framed paintings. The view over the river Thames to Massive Ben was fabulous. My lavatory had trendy maps of London as wallpaper. On the black-and-white tiled ground was a deep tub and a Toto bathroom, and there was a number of counter house to show the Molton and Brown toiletries.
The M Membership Lounge on the fifth ground has all-day snacks, smooth drinks, and canapes within the evenings. The state-of-the-art health middle and entry to the twenty-five-meter palm-lined indoor pool, saunas, and coverings are additionally on this ground. The Membership Lounge is an instance of the ‘lodge inside a lodge’ idea, the place these eager to be extra unique can work or unwind in luxurious. All of the assembly rooms are designed out of the unique 1922 places of work. There’s even an expertly guided complimentary two-hour strolling tour of Royal and Political London, which is fabulous. The lodge felt modern all through, contemporary, and newly embellished. And what a view, as Wordsworth put it so fantastically, “the river glideth at his personal candy will.”