The Savoy Story
March 8th 2008 07:51
Like so many of the streets, landmarks and buildings that dot that rise of land stretching from
Waterloo Bridge down to Charing Cross Station on the northern bank of the Thames, the Savoy Hotel takes its name from Savoy Palace.
Built in 1246 by Count Peter of Savoy, the palace became part of the estate Henry II who rented it to his wife’s uncle for the extraordinary sum of three barbed arrows. Later, it was home to John of Gaunt, patron of Geoffrey Chaucer, and later still to the Earls of Lancaster. Finally, during the Peasants’ Revolt of 1381 Savoy Palace was burned to the ground. In 1505 the building was resurrected and functioned as a hospital until the 1820s when it was demolished to make way for Waterloo Bridge. The Savoy Chapel was the only part of Count Peter’s palace to survive the conflagration, the rebuild and the demolition. It still stands today in Savoy Street.
The Savoy Hotel was built in 1889 by the great theatrical impresario Richard D’Oyly Carte. The building was funded from the profits of the neighbouring Savoy theatre, established in 1881 to stage Carte’s productions of Gilbert and Sullivan light operas. The 19th century Savoy hotel rivalled the world’s most innovative and luxurious. It was a dizzying nine stories high, was made of artificial stone and had hitherto unheard of horizontal windows. It was one of the first hotels in the world to introduce the ensuite bathroom and full electrical lighting. The Savoy's forecourt was the first and remains the only road in Britain where traffic travels on the right hand side. The hotel opened with Cesar Ritz (who later went on to found the Ritz Hotel in Picadilly) as manager and Auguste Escoffier, the legendary Frenchman, as Chef.
Over the years, the Savoy has been a popular haunt of the royal, the rich and the famous. It has hosted many great parties, like HG Wells’ spectacular 70th birthday party in October, 1936. The ultra chic and ambient American Bar has feted the opening and closing of countless theatrical shows. The vast dining room, a sea of white-clothed tables, sparkling with crystal and silver, has seen innumerable celebratory dinners. Its rooms have also witnessed their share of scandal; Oscar Wilde’s affair with Lord Alfred Douglas took place in Room 346. The Savoy’s outlook, across the Victoria Embankment over the river, is spectacular and Monet’s impressionist painting, the Thames, is the view from a third floor window.
But last November, the tinkling piano in the American Bar fell silent. Much of the furniture, along with the china, the crystal, the cutlery and the linen fell under the auctioneer’s hammer. The doors to the Savoy closed, a shroud of scaffolding was thrown around its artificial stone walls and a lengthy programme of renovation and refurbishment began.
In the meantime, fans and frequenters of the Savoy are left wondering what to expect. Has the Savoy as we all knew it and loved it gone for good? Will those wide sweeping staircases remain? Will that grand dining room, with its windows onto the gardens? Has the American Bar vanished forever? Or will it all be back, the same as it was, but newer, fresher and better to face the next century?
Waterloo Bridge down to Charing Cross Station on the northern bank of the Thames, the Savoy Hotel takes its name from Savoy Palace.
The Savoy, shrouded in scaffolding
Built in 1246 by Count Peter of Savoy, the palace became part of the estate Henry II who rented it to his wife’s uncle for the extraordinary sum of three barbed arrows. Later, it was home to John of Gaunt, patron of Geoffrey Chaucer, and later still to the Earls of Lancaster. Finally, during the Peasants’ Revolt of 1381 Savoy Palace was burned to the ground. In 1505 the building was resurrected and functioned as a hospital until the 1820s when it was demolished to make way for Waterloo Bridge. The Savoy Chapel was the only part of Count Peter’s palace to survive the conflagration, the rebuild and the demolition. It still stands today in Savoy Street.
The Savoy Hotel was built in 1889 by the great theatrical impresario Richard D’Oyly Carte. The building was funded from the profits of the neighbouring Savoy theatre, established in 1881 to stage Carte’s productions of Gilbert and Sullivan light operas. The 19th century Savoy hotel rivalled the world’s most innovative and luxurious. It was a dizzying nine stories high, was made of artificial stone and had hitherto unheard of horizontal windows. It was one of the first hotels in the world to introduce the ensuite bathroom and full electrical lighting. The Savoy's forecourt was the first and remains the only road in Britain where traffic travels on the right hand side. The hotel opened with Cesar Ritz (who later went on to found the Ritz Hotel in Picadilly) as manager and Auguste Escoffier, the legendary Frenchman, as Chef.
Over the years, the Savoy has been a popular haunt of the royal, the rich and the famous. It has hosted many great parties, like HG Wells’ spectacular 70th birthday party in October, 1936. The ultra chic and ambient American Bar has feted the opening and closing of countless theatrical shows. The vast dining room, a sea of white-clothed tables, sparkling with crystal and silver, has seen innumerable celebratory dinners. Its rooms have also witnessed their share of scandal; Oscar Wilde’s affair with Lord Alfred Douglas took place in Room 346. The Savoy’s outlook, across the Victoria Embankment over the river, is spectacular and Monet’s impressionist painting, the Thames, is the view from a third floor window.
But last November, the tinkling piano in the American Bar fell silent. Much of the furniture, along with the china, the crystal, the cutlery and the linen fell under the auctioneer’s hammer. The doors to the Savoy closed, a shroud of scaffolding was thrown around its artificial stone walls and a lengthy programme of renovation and refurbishment began.
In the meantime, fans and frequenters of the Savoy are left wondering what to expect. Has the Savoy as we all knew it and loved it gone for good? Will those wide sweeping staircases remain? Will that grand dining room, with its windows onto the gardens? Has the American Bar vanished forever? Or will it all be back, the same as it was, but newer, fresher and better to face the next century?
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