THIS
IMPORTANT ADDITION to the hotels of the metropolis has many features quite novel
to London. Its handsome river frontage, facing the gardens on the Thames
Victoria Embankment, commands an extensive and highly interesting panoramic view
- on the one hand St. Paul's Cathedral and the Tower of London; on the other,
the Houses of Parliament at Westminster. Cleopatra's Needle stands in the
foreground; on the opposite bank of the Thames lies the frontage of Lambeth; and
in the far distance may be clearly seen the Crystal Palace and the Surrey hills.
The site of the Savoy Hotel, covering three quarters of an
acre, is adjacent to the Savoy Theatre, whose manager and proprietor, Mr. R.
D'Oyly Carte, is one of the directors of the Hotel Company; other directors are
the Earl of Lathom, Mr. Hwfa Williams, and Sir Arthur Sullivan. The architect is
Mr. W. Young, and Mr. G. H. Holloway was the builder.
A fine exterior view of the building is that of the south
front, overlooking the Victoria Embankment, the gardens, and the Thames. To
every floor there is a terraced balcony, supported either by granite columns or
pillars of cream colour, having gilded capitals. Red and white striped blinds
may be drawn at pleasure; and the combined effect of the colours, red, white,
cream, and gold, in an edifice rising from the roadway eight floors high, is
very attractive.
The carriage entrance, on Savoy Hill, from the Strand, brings
visitors into a rectangular central courtyard, having an area of 6000 square
feet, in the middle of which a fountain plays in a bower of flowers. Bright
blossoms adorn the windows which pierce the lofty surrounding walls - walls that
can never become smoke-begrimed, as they are built wholly of glazed white brick.
At two corners, inclosed in towers which form portions of the square, have been
provided American elevators, by means of which passengers may conveniently
ascend to the top floors.
On the first floor is the restaurant, 70 ft. in length by 40
ft. in width, and capable of being temporarily subdivided. It is splendidly
mounted in mahogany, carved and inlaid, and the chairs are covered with red
leather. French windows open upon the broad balcony, where after dinner the
grateful cup of coffee and cigarette may be enjoyed in the open air.
Conveniently at hand are the kitchens, connected with the vast underground
store-rooms, and the cellars, which are already stocked with carefully selected
champagnes, burgundies, and clarets, not to mention casks of ale and huge butts
of spirits. The restaurant may in part be considered as distinct from the hotel,
for it can be used by anyone who is attracted to it from the Strand, by which it
is reached through Beaufort-buildings, a glazed corridor, leading therefrom to
the dining-rooms, both public and private. Of course the Strand entrance is
equally available to the regular visitor.
Another separate department is the banqueting-hall on the
mezzanine floor, below the restaurant, having beneath it the ballroom; these
three spacious rooms or halls corresponding in size and general characteristics,
but differing, of necessity, in decoration. In the banqueting-room there is
space sufficient to seat 360 people, and its acoustic properties are good, so
that it will probably be hired for public meetings. The ballroom, treated in
white and gold, has the advantage of a long alcove, and in the same wing there
are reception- and cloak-rooms. A special entrance to this portion of the
establishment is arranged in Savoy-place.
In the lower floors of the building are lounge-rooms,
bureaus, cloak-rooms, smoke-rooms, and other conveniences which are the
outgrowth of modern civilisation. In the depths of the cellars are four electric
light engines - for no gas, except for cooking, is needed - water-heaters,
pumps, and an artesian well, sunk over 420 ft. Here, too, a Turkish bath and
swimming-bath will be constructed. The Savoy Hotel will make no charge for
lights or for baths.
The majority of the four hundred and odd rooms which compose
the hotel establishment derive light either from the river frontage windows or
from those which open into the inclosed courtyard. A corridor, over 6 ft. wide,
gives access to these apartments on every floor. It is possible to make a
self-contained suite, consisting of one or more bed-rooms and private
sitting-rooms, with a separate lavatory and bath-room, by the simple expedient
of locking the double doors communicating with the next suite. With the doors
thus closed the flat is complete, having nothing in common with its neighbour
save the use of the main corridor or passage.
The bed-rooms, in their size and proportions, fittings,
furniture, and decoration, are much alike; of course they vary in style, in
tone, and in detail. All the suites of rooms are upholstered and arranged on a
scale which can only be equalled in a grand mansion. Messrs. Maple have supplied
pile carpets, brass twin' bedsteads, inlaid cabinets, and sets of mahogany,
walnut., or enamelled ash, carved dados and mantlepieces, wall hangings of
Japanese papers, or of tapestry designs, friezes of gold, and pottery of the
choicest description. Nothing is wanting to please the educated eye or gratify
the taste, as well to ensure comfort. It is expected that the rooms most in
demand will be those which are at the greatest altitude, for the higher one goes
the purer the air becomes, and the wider the prospect.
The provision of private bath-rooms, of which there are
sixty-seven in all, is a new idea, and one that will no doubt be appreciated as
an indispensable adjunct to the suite or flat system, which will be principally
encouraged, as the basis of a fresh business. There is constant inquiry for such
suites of rooms. On every floor there is a service-room, with lifts for luggage
and speaking-tubes to the kitchen and offices. The hotel clerk, in his office,
can, by looking at a dial, tell at a glance how long it is before any call has
been answered by a servant.
It is intended that the Savoy shall cater for families of the
highest class, and it can never be a cheap hotel, but it will not be unduly
expensive. In all such details as plate, glass, china, and table-linen, great
pains have been taken to procure the best. The manager of this new hotel is Mr.
W. Hardwicke; the steward is M. Francois Rinjoux, formerly of the Grand Hotel at
Monte Carlo, and M. Charpentier, late 'chef' at White's, is the ruler of the
kitchen.
The building is entirely fireproof, as from basement to roof
the materials employed are incombustible, the floors being of concrete and the
joists of steel. Of wood there is none, except in the doors, window-frames, and
furniture. One noticeable point is the completeness with which the electric
lighting has been carried out, the current being cut off at will or utilised in
prettily shaded lamps of the most convenient pattern.
[Lounge Room & Restaurant]
Illustrated London News, 26 October, 1889
D'Oyly Carte, the owner of the Savoy Theatre, which Gilbert and Sullivan have made famous, and incidentally manager of the Savoy Hotel, on the Embankment, wants me to go and live there instead of staying in Duke Street, St. James. I can have similar accommodation, bedroom, bath, sitting-room, and valeting for £2 10s. a week. He says he is finding difficulty in inducing people to patronise the hotel. The restaurant is certainly not popular, but that is due, perhaps, to the failure of Londoners to adopt the Continental habit of dining at hotels and restaurants. At present the Savoy is given over to people from abroad, and they are not many. Carte says that if he had his way he would cut a way through, so that the Savoy could be entered from the Strand very much like Jabez Balfour's Hotel Cecil, which stands up at the end of the little road called Cecil Street. That, I hear, is to be pulled down and turned over to the hotel.
R.D.Blumenfeld's Diary, November 10, 1890