The London hotel so fabulous, you could live in the loos

”Have you seen the ladies’ loos yet?” asks my guide. And, before I can answer: “They’re so fabulous you could live in them. Let’s go and take a look.”

I’m at Claridge’s hotel, in London’s Mayfair, on a tour led by the hotel’s knowledgeable archivist, Kate Hudson, to celebrate the centenary of art deco. This is possibly the only hotel in the world that can proudly tout its toilets as somewhere fabulous enough to live.

I follow her across the shiny, black-and-white checkerboard marble tiles of the hotel lobby and through a decadent archway of pressed metal and patterned glass where “ladies room” is back-lit by a soft white light.

Inside, I am fittingly agog. The room is the quintessence of a design era known for its glitz and glam, its elaborate styling, its exquisite craftsmanship. The room has dado oak wood panelled walls and a whimsical mural featuring dreamily silhouetted palm trees and a showy parrot (a nod to the pet of long-time guests and philanthropists Stephen and Virginia Courtauld).

In keeping with the island theme (and exuberance of the style), a column between two archways is playfully bejewelled with a painted treasure: strings of pearls, gold chains, cameo brooches.

Fussying around the basins, aproned bathroom attendants – some of whom have worked at Claridge’s for decades, according to Hudson, are at the ready with hand towels, a service best appreciated with a pound coin or two in the silver tip plate.

On the way out, I take a moment to admire two decadent polished wooden dressing tables each with extravagant arched bevelled mirrors and glass lamps. With welcoming wooden chairs, they offer a place to sit and gossip, to apply lipstick and rouge, perhaps even – in their day - to light a slimline cigarette.

When I suggest as much, Hudson pulls out a black and white photo that perfectly captures the era. In it, dancing girls are gathered around the dressing table. Elbow-length gloves covering their slender arms perfectly match their dazzling beaded hair nets and spangled flapper dresses. In the mirrored reflection they look ready to party, their lips big and smiling, the sassy twinkle of a long-ago era in their eyes.

As we continue our walk around the hotel, Hudson regales me with other intriguing insights. Though the phrase “art deco”, from the French arts décoratifs, wasn’t well-used until the 1960s, the globally recognised design era kicked off in 1925 with the Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes in Paris.

“Up until that point, it was called the modern decorative style, and all kinds of other things,” Hudson says.

“But the exhibition in Paris is considered the birthplace of art deco. It was put on by the French government who wanted to take ownership of style and taste, and really set themselves up as the arbiters of such things.”

It couldn’t have been more successful. Running from April to October (and extended another month due to its success), the exhibition attracted 17,000 exhibitors – predominantly from Europe – and millions of visitors from across the world.

“I can’t think of anything comparable today,” Hudson says. “It was the place to see and the place to be seen, and the success of the event rippled throughout the world and is still recognised today in architecture and design.”

The art deco era also neatly evokes that unique boom period between the two world wars. In London, this was the heyday of the so-called Bright Young Things, a carefree bohemian generation of hobnobs and young aristocrats who revelled in exuberant fancy dress parties buoyed by exotic cocktails and recreational drugs. It was the playground for a luminary creative set including writers Nancy Mitford and Evelyn Waugh, and society photographer Cecil Beaton.

“‘The roaring 20s’, ‘the Jazz Age’, ‘the Bright Young Things’, all those phrases, which we use so glibly, marked London’s inter-war period,” Hudson says.

“It was this incredibly stylish period, but also a very unsettled period with a feeling that life is slightly fragile. In many ways, there was a sense of carpe diem, you know, to just enjoy those moments.”

Still today, a stay at Claridge’s elicits just such joie de vivre. Any Londoner who has business in Mayfair is sure to have met here for a rendezvous in the fantabulous lobby, a champagne in The Fumoir bar, or brunch under a gleaming Chihuly glass sculpture in the magnificent Foyer restaurant.

For out-of-town guests, it presents an excellent people-watching opportunity, a chance to see London at its most vivacious, from the fashionistas and celebs to the local characters including the chatty top-hatted doormen, the second-generation concierge, the Mayfair locals who treat the hotel like their second home.

Such a hotel vibe doesn’t happen overnight. Claridge’s has been open on this site since 1856, but it was rebuilt between 1894 and 1898 and so has the late Victorian era and architect C. W. Stephens (who also created Harrods department store in Knightsbridge) to thank for its grandeur and striking facade. Between 1926 and 1932, hot on the heels of the exhibition, a refurbishment and extension led first by high society designer Basil Ionides and continued by architect Oswald Milne, saw it evolve with the times.

Standing out the front of the hotel with Hudson, the facade tells the story – the archetypal red-brick Victoriana frontage mingles with a glorious art deco entrance. Replacing the old horse and cart circular carriageway is a black and white portico made from plate glass and chrome metal either side of playful “jousting tent” revolving doors. Sitting above the portico, behind enormous fluttering Union Jack flags, are fruit-filled black urns, replicas of a motif that featured in the original exhibition catalogue.

“It’s rather wonderful isn’t it?” Hudson says as we step back inside the lobby. This is another spectacular space with gleaming marble floors, doorways framed with plaster tassels, geometric carpets and an original Lalique glass panel presented to the hotel in 1926 by the famous glassmaker René Lalique himself.

Sitting in big leather couches near the lobby’s Georgian fireplace (which came from sister hotel The Berkeley in 1898), I eye-off the heavily ornamented Victorian ceilings and cornices, and the imposing original wooden staircase spiralling to the floors above.

“It’s such an eclectic mix of styles, and yet somehow it works because the layers upon layers of history make it so individual.”

Later, with the tour complete, I settle into my luxuriant two-roomed suite, a mingling of modern stylish amenities with contemporary deco touches – geometric carpet, wood and chrome accents, and furniture and fabrics imbued with the era’s zigzag, chevron and sunburst motifs.

A copy of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Flappers and Philosophers lies in wait on the coffee table, but I have other plans. On the concierge’s recommendation, I am off to the West End to see The Great Gatsby stage show.

As I put my lipstick on in the suite’s snazzy black and white marble bathroom, Hudson’s parting words again make me smile: “Always judge a hotel by its loos.”

THE DETAILS

Claridge’s Superior Rooms cost from £842 ($1595) a night including minibar stocked with British treats and exclusive access to the spa, swimming pool and sauna. See claridges.co.uk

Five more London hotels with history

The Connaught
Nearing 130-years-old, this illustrious Mayfair hotel has hosted presidential guests including Dwight D. Eisenhower and Charles de Gaulle. It boasts lavish suites, butlers, three Michelin-star cuisine, and the famed Connaught Bar, loved as much by locals as by guests.
See the-connaught.co.uk

The Langham
Opening its doors in 1865, The Langham, on Regent Street, was known as Europe’s first “grand hotel”, a go-to for high society, royalty, artists and authors. In the 1870s it offered guests electric lights, hydraulic lifts and air-conditioning, an elevated level of luxury that the hotel is known for today. Recent additions include a new luxury tavern, The Wigmore and Chuan Spa.
See langhamhotels.com

Brown’s Hotel
Another Mayfair staple, Brown’s opened in 1832 as London’s first luxury hotel. It has been a bolthole for a litany of authors including Rudyard Kipling, Stephen King and Agatha Christie who all credit it with inspiration for their books. Afternoon tea in the streetside Drawing Room is a must-do.
See roccofortehotels.com

The Savoy
The Savoy is arguably London’s most famed historic hotel, located between the Strand and the River Thames in the theatre precinct. It was opened in 1889 by theatre king Richard D’Oyly Carte of Gilbert and Sullivan fame, and owes its reputation to Swiss hotelier Cesar Ritz who would go on to open The Ritz hotels. See fairmont.com

St Ermin’s Hotel
Lesser-known but no less historical, St Ermin’s opened in Westminster in 1899, after transitioning from smart apartments to hotel with a red-brick Queen Anne facade and a central carriageway courtyard. Its proximity to the Houses of Parliament put it centre-stage during the 1940s. The hotel still taps this history today with its line-up of WWII-related experiences. See sterminshotel.co.uk

The writer travelled as a guest of Claridge’s.