Rooms with a view
The Dorchester Collection’s ninth hotel features luxurious interiors
by Thierry Despont and Wolfgang Puck’s first European venture
The Office of Thierry Despont is well known for designing high end private residences. At 45 Park Lane, Despont set out to create a personal, private club atmosphere which would offer international guests a smart and discreet environment from which to enjoy London. To achieve this, Despont styled the interiors as deeply sophisticated, glossy and masculine spaces combining intense, dark colours with contrasting light, sensual textures.
Situated just yards from The Dorchester, all forty five guest rooms at 45 Park Lane (ten of these are Suites, plus a Penthouse) feature superb views over Hyde Park, Bang & Olufsen televisions, Blu Ray players and safes with internal power points. Guests at the hotel have complimentary access to the facilities at the Dorchester (including the Spa) and priority reservations at the Dorchester’s celebrated restaurants.
From the outside, the building is impressive. The exterior façade is covered in beautifully crafted horizontal ‘fins’ which have been designed to reduce the building’s solar gain and therefore reduce the
power required to run the air conditioning system.
In the lobby, a grand tapestry by Thierry Despont welcomes guests. Thierry comments; “This artwork represents an imaginary planet, suggesting that guests have entered their own, private world.” The artwork throughout the hotel was meticulously selected and the collection is displayed around the theme of English artists, celebrities and London views. Cerused mahogany is used throughout the entire project, from the majestic columns in the lobby to the refined trim of the bedrooms and lining of the wardrobes. The colour schemes vary from floor to floor, ranging from red and honey to English blue and royal cream. Taffeta curtains frame the Hyde Park views. Thierry continues; “The design of the lobby, lounge, restaurant, library and bar are all intended to give the feeling of a modern and luxurious mansion, where one can invite friends and guests.”
45 Park Lane houses Wolfgang Puck’s celebrated steak restaurant concept, CUT - Puck’s first European restaurant. Situated on the ground floor, the interior theme of the lobby is continued into the restaurant, creating a bold, sophisticated atmosphere for fine dining. Stunning, contemporary Brand van Egmond chandeliers emphasise the restaurant’s dramatic, double height interior.
On the mezzanine level, Despont has created a serene library, high-tech gym, a lounge area and a bar which provides seating for 30 additional covers, plus a cinema room with a state-of-the-art surround sound system. With upholstered walls of brown wool with large accent braiding and tiered lighting, the cinema room acts as an extension of the lounge and bar; large sliding panels have been incorporated which can be opened to provide additional space.
The guest rooms have been treated with the care of a private residence, including upholstered bed alcoves and luxuriously upholstered furniture. With wall to wall custom carpet throughout, each guest room has a bedside communication and control system which can do everything from adjusting the TV, air conditioning and black out shades to requesting the fabled Dorchester service at the touch of a button. The closets are meticulously appointed and the bathrooms project a refined, spa-like atmosphere (particularly striking are the purpose designed and built back-lit marble bath panels - pictured both unlit and lit, above right).
A number of specialist UK and international suppliers were brought in on the project. Italian furniture manufacturers Molteni (see ad opposite) supplied much of the superb public area and guest room furniture, and Connecticut-based Get Back Inc. (see ad on page 20) supplied a specially created feature dining table for CUT (Get Back’s owner/designer, Tim Byrne, used pieces of vintage industrial American machinery and African mahogany to create this table, which can be adjusted from dining to bar height). Hotel sound and vision specialists, CGA Integration (see ad on page 20) were tasked with the job of designing and installing the state of the art audio visual systems at the hotel. As always with CGA, the results are outstanding; all the guest rooms and public spaces feature the latest technology, which has been seamlessly incorporated. The striking exterior lighting was designed and installed by Spanlite, who also supplied internal LED fittings throughout, and the stunning back-lit Calacatta gold marble bath panels.
45 Park Lane is in our view, an instant classic; beautifully designed and finished to the highest standard, and a worthy addition to the Dorchester Collection portfolio. •
45 Park Lane. Mayfair, London W1K 1PN
Tel: +44 (0)20 7493 4545 www.45parklane.com
Design Thierry Despont 001 212 334 9444
Architects Paul Davis & Partners
+44 (0)20 7730 1178
Furniture Molteni 00 39 0362 359266
Get Back Inc. 001 860 274 9991
Audio Visual
CGA Integration +44 (0)845 058 4650
Specialist Lighting
Spanlite +44 (0)844 840 4400