The Peninsula London is unmissable. Occupying the entire southwest block of Hyde Park Corner, it’s a classic stone sculpture that looks as if it’s been there forever while appearing absolutely tomorrow. Eight floors are set in a slightly curved square as periphery to a gorgeous inner courtyard, highlighted by a pair of 120-year-old Japanese maples orchestrated by cult outdoors artist Enzo Enea. Arrive by car into the courtyard through a two-floor entry from Grosvenor Crescent. On foot, walk up five steps from Hyde Park Corner.
Immediately, the lobby says “Peninsula.” Tall ceilings—Peter Marino in tasteful style. But turn north and the surprises begin. Mindful of two of Sir Michael Kadoorie’s many passions, a Concorde cone is embedded permanently into a ceiling. A classic car takes up temporary stance, with superb educational displays around.
Ah, the front desk, done in a traditional style, ready to lean on for talking to The Peninsula team, dressed by haute couture specialist Jenny Packham. Behind them are four wall-hung gold sculptures. Walls around the entire hotel interior, by the way, bear 200 interpretations of England, specially commissioned from Royal Drawing School artists. Two stone lions, flanking the courtyard entrance, are a reminder that the leasehold of this entire serious investment is held by Hongkong & Shanghai Hotels, Limited (freehold is owned by Grosvenor Estate).
From the lions, turn left to the south wall of the building, which holds 25 private residences, with a separate entrance off Halkin Street. The other three sides of the whole block, designed by Hopkins Architects—who did the Velodrome for the London 2012 Olympic Games—hold 190 rooms and suites, the smallest at 54 square metres. Marino has deliberately brought the outside in. Sit window-side in an east-facing room and you feel you could touch the famous four-horse quadrigal atop Decimus Burton’s Wellington Arch, the Hyde Park Corner logo since it arrived in 1882. Of course, rooms have The Peninsula’s signatures: signage in your own language, a cat flap for deliveries, an electronic nail dryer, and a seriously impressive, gimmick-free bathroom.
Back down at ground level, a Cantonese restaurant with an integral bar is a masterpiece of kaleidoscopic design in a mostly blue room. Canton Blue also offers a semi-private room with satisfactorily transparent walls that allow vision of musical instruments as design features. Behind you, there are china-hung dining alcoves, one in the restaurant’s signature hue, its primary companions, and so on. Luxurious afternoon tea is quintessential and available at The Lobby, surrounded by fluted columns, crystal chandeliers, and de Gournay landscape murals. By comparison, the locals’ regular—the all-day to-go deli of The Peninsula Boutique & Café—is less fanciful, but still colourful. Reach it from Grosvenor Crescent, via a hotel lift, or down a somewhat testing circular staircase guarded by a blue-tiled dragon that curves its shape around the 270 degrees of the outer stairwell. Retail is more highest-end jewellery than the haute couture of the hotel’s Hong Kong, Beijing, and Shanghai siblings.
There’s still much to be revealed—menu entries, the composition of the hotel’s liveried vehicle fleet, clad in The Peninsula Green, and what wellness will look like (the spa is rumoured to be working with Australia’s Subtle Energies and Margy’s Monte Carlo). But the initial overture indicates a stunning performance.
The Peninsula London opens on 12 September 2023.
The Peninsula Spa & Wellness Centre will open in November 2023.
All images courtesy of The Peninsula London and Mason Rose.
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