The Athenaeum is a family-owned five-star hotel overlooking

Green Park Green Park, officially The Green Park, is one of the Royal Parks of London. It is in the southern part – the core part – of the City of Westminster, Central London, but before that zone was extended to the north, to take in Marylebo ...

Piccadilly Piccadilly () is a road in the City of Westminster, London, to the south of Mayfair, between Hyde Park Corner in the west and Piccadilly Circus in the east. It is part of the A4 road that connects central London to Hammersmith, Earl's Cour ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

History

Hope House was built at 116 Piccadilly in 1849–1850 by Henry Pelham-Clinton, the 6th Duke of Newcastle. The name Athenaeum first appears around 1864 when the house was bought by the Junior Athenaeum Club. The house was redeveloped in the 1930s as an

art deco Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unit ...

apartment block, still called the Athenaeum. In 1971

The Rank Organisation The Rank Organisation was a British entertainment conglomerate founded by industrialist J. Arthur Rank in April 1937. It quickly became the largest and most vertically integrated film company in the United Kingdom, owning production, distribut ...

purchased the 1930s Athenaeum Court apartment block, opening it as The Athenaeum Hotel after a two-year refurbishment. Through Rank's direct links to Hollywood the hotel attracted guests including

Steven Spielberg Steven Allan Spielberg (; born December 18, 1946) is an American director, writer, and producer. A major figure of the New Hollywood era and pioneer of the modern blockbuster, he is the most commercially successful director of all time. Sp ...

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Lauren Bacall Lauren Bacall (; born Betty Joan Perske; September 16, 1924 – August 12, 2014) was an American actress. She was named the 20th-greatest female star of classic Hollywood cinema by the American Film Institute and received an Academy Honorary ...

Liza Minnelli Liza May Minnelli ( ; born March 12, 1946) is an American actress, singer, dancer, and choreographer. Known for her commanding stage presence and powerful alto singing voice, Minnelli is among a rare group of performers awarded an Emmy, Grammy ...

and

Warren Beatty Henry Warren Beatty (né Beaty; born March 30, 1937) is an American actor and filmmaker, whose career spans over six decades. He was nominated for 15 Academy Awards, including four for Best Actor, four for Best Picture, two for Best Director, ...

. Rank encouraged the stars of its films (including

Elizabeth Taylor Dame Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor (February 27, 1932 – March 23, 2011) was a British-American actress. She began her career as a child actress in the early 1940s and was one of the most popular stars of classical Hollywood cinema in the 1950s. ...

) to take up residence at the hotel whilst working on projects in England. ''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Hollywood film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade paper, and in 2010 switched to a weekly large ...

'' observed that there were more movie stars to be seen in London's Athenaeum than in the

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of the

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. For over twenty years Sally Bulloch was the Executive Manager. The current General Manager Joanne Taylor Stagg took over in 2019 In 1992, the Athenaeum was purchased by Ralph Trustees Limited, a family-run business who also own The Grove in Hertfordshire and the Runnymede Hotel & Spa near Windsor. More recent celebrity guests include ,

Kim Kardashian Kimberly Noel Kardashian (formerly West; born October 21, 1980) is an American socialite, media personality, and businesswoman. She first gained media attention as a friend and stylist of Paris Hilton, but received wider notice after the s ...

and

Mel B Melanie Janine Brown (born 29 May 1975), commonly known as Melanie B or Mel B, is an English singer, songwriter, and television personality. She rose to fame in the 1990s as a member of the girl group Spice Girls, in which she was nicknamed Sc ...

Location

The Athenaeum's postcode is W1J 7BJ, right in the heart of

Mayfair Mayfair is an affluent area in the West End of London towards the eastern edge of Hyde Park, in the City of Westminster, between Oxford Street, Regent Street, Piccadilly and Park Lane. It is one of the most expensive districts in the world ...

. The nearest

tube station The London Underground (also known simply as the Underground or by its nickname the Tube) is a rapid transit system serving Greater London and some parts of the adjacent counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and Hertfordshire in England. The Und ...

is .

Kid's Concierge

The Hotel has a dedicated Kid's Concierge service which takes care of children's needs and helps families to plan itineraries. The Athenaeum also provides age-appropriate toys to children upon arrival.

Awards

The hotel has 5 red stars and 2 red rosettes from the AA. The website travelandleisure.com put the Athenaeum in its list of the 500 best hotels in the world in 2008.

Afternoon Tea Tea (in reference to food, rather than the drink) has long been used as an umbrella term for several different meals. English writer Isabella Beeton, whose books on home economics were widely read in the 19th century, describes meals of va ...

at the Athenaeum has received an Award of Excellence from the UK Tea Guild for Top London Afternoon Tea 2008.

References

Footnotes Citations

External links

The Athenaeum website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Athenaeum Hotel Hotels in the City of Westminster Hotels established in 1973 Buildings and structures on Piccadilly 1973 establishments in England