The Corinthia London Hotel, at the corner of

Northumberland Avenue Northumberland Avenue is a street in the City of Westminster, Central London, running from Trafalgar Square in the west to the Thames Embankment in the east. The road was built on the site of Northumberland House, the London home of the House ...

and Whitehall Place in central London, is a hotel and former

British Government His Majesty's Government, abbreviated to HM Government or otherwise UK Government, is the central government, central executive authority of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

building, located on a triangular site between

Trafalgar Square Trafalgar Square ( ) is a public square in the City of Westminster in Central London. It was established in the early-19th century around the area formerly known as Charing Cross. Its name commemorates the Battle of Trafalgar, the Royal Navy, ...

and the

Thames Embankment The Thames Embankment was built as part of the London Main Drainage (1859-1875) by the Metropolitan Board of Works, a pioneering Victorian civil engineering project which housed intercept sewers, roads and underground railways and embanked the ...

. Originally opened in 1885 as the Metropole Hotel, its location close to the

Palace of Westminster The Palace of Westminster is the meeting place of the Parliament of the United Kingdom and is located in London, England. It is commonly called the Houses of Parliament after the House of Commons and the House of Lords, the two legislative ch ...

and government offices in

Whitehall Whitehall is a road and area in the City of Westminster, Central London, England. The road forms the first part of the A roads in Zone 3 of the Great Britain numbering scheme, A3212 road from Trafalgar Square to Chelsea, London, Chelsea. It ...

meant it was commandeered in both world wars. After the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, it was purchased by the

Ministry of Defence A ministry of defence or defense (see American and British English spelling differences#-ce.2C -se, spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and Mi ...

and used as government offices until it was declared surplus to requirements and sold by

Crown Estates The Crown Estate is a collection of lands and holdings in the United Kingdom belonging to the British monarch as a corporation sole, making it "the sovereign's public estate", which is neither government property nor part of the monarch's priva ...

in 2007. It was then restored as a hotel and renamed the Corinthia Hotel, a combination of hotel and residential building.

History

Metropole Hotel

Commissioned by the Gordon Hotels company, construction was started in 1883. The hotel opened in 1885, with an 88-page brochure which claimed: The hotel was the venue for the annual dinners of the Aero Club and the

Alpine Club Alpine clubs are typically large social clubs that revolve around climbing, hiking, and other outdoor activities. Many alpine clubs also take on aspects typically reserved for local sport associations, providing education and training courses, se ...

for several years, and acted as the gathering point for competitors in the first London to Brighton run in 1896. The

Prince of Wales Prince of Wales (, ; ) is a title traditionally given to the male heir apparent to the History of the English monarchy, English, and later, the British throne. The title originated with the Welsh rulers of Kingdom of Gwynedd, Gwynedd who, from ...

, later

King Edward VII Edward VII (Albert Edward; 9 November 1841 – 6 May 1910) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910. The second child and eldest son of Queen Victoria and ...

entertained guests at the hotel on various occasions, having a reserved box in the ballroom and using the Royal Suite, thought to have been the first floor rooms with bowfronted windows fronting Whitehall Place.

World War I

The hotel was requisitioned in the run-up to World War I to provide accommodation for government staff, together with the other hotels and buildings in Northumberland Avenue, including the

Constitutional Club The Constitutional Club was a London gentlemen's club, now dissolved, which was established in 1883 and disbanded in 1979. Between 1886 and 1959 it had a distinctive red and yellow Victorian terracotta building, designed by Robert William Edi ...

and the offices of the

Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge The Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge (SPCK) is a UK-based Christian charity. Founded in 1698 by Thomas Bray, it has worked for over 300 years to increase awareness of the Christian faith in the UK and worldwide. The SPCK is the oldes ...

. The night before the British Expeditionary Force embarked for France on the outbreak of the war in August 1914, its two Commanders-in-Chief in the conflict, Field Marshals John French and

Douglas Haig Field marshal (United Kingdom), Field Marshal Douglas Haig, 1st Earl Haig (; 19 June 1861 – 29 January 1928) was a senior Officer (armed forces), officer of the British Army. During the First World War he commanded the British Expeditionary F ...

, both stayed in the building.

Inter-war years

Reopening as a hotel after World War I, the " Midnight Follies" became a well-known cabaret fixtur

http://www.britishpathe.com/video/the-midnight-follies-and-some-of-the-steps-we] In 1921

Bert Firman Bert Firman (born Herbert Feuerman; 3 February 1906 – 9 April 1999) was an English bandleader of the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s. He was born in London. His mother was of Polish stock and his father was a professional musician who had settl ...

got a job as a violinist with the Midnight Follies Orchestra at the hotel. Shortly after beginning the job, the current

band leader A bandleader is the leader of a music group such as a dance band, rock or pop band or jazz quartet. The term is most commonly used with a group that plays popular music as a small combo or a big band, such as one which plays jazz, blues, rhyth ...

an alcoholic American

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to p ...

player was indisposed, and Firman was offered the job. Only sixteen, he would thereafter claim to have been the youngest bandleader in the world. After Firman left residence in 1924, other band leaders that played the hotel in the inter-war years included

Mantovani Annunzio Paolo Mantovani (; 15 November 1905 – 30 March 1980) was an Italian British conductor, composer and light orchestra-styled entertainer with a cascading strings musical signature. The book '' British Hit Singles & Albums'' ...

. On 4 January 1936 the

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

Rugby Union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

team, thanks to three try tries by Russian Prince Alexander Obolensky, beat the touring New Zealand

All Blacks The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks, is the representative men's national team in the sport of rugby union for the nation of New Zealand, which is considered the country's national sport. Famed for th ...

13-0, the first time England had beaten New Zealand. Aided by

Pathé News Pathé News was a producer of newsreels and documentaries from 1910 to 1970 in the United Kingdom. Its founder, Charles Pathé, was a pioneer of moving pictures in the silent era. The Pathé News archive is known today as "British Pathé". I ...

footage of the game, Obolensky's name entered into legend, since the first try, beating several All Blacks in a run of three-quarters of the length of the field, was widely regarded as the greatest try of the time, and one of the greatest tries ever scored by England. The England team retired that night to the Metropole, where they found that the opposing New Zealand team also happened to be staying. When the government redeveloped buildings at

Whitehall Gardens The Privy Garden of the Palace of Whitehall was a large enclosed space in Westminster, London, that was originally a pleasure garden used by the late Tudor and Stuart monarchs of England. It was created under Henry VIII and was expanded and im ...

in mid-1936, they leased the entire hotel for £300,000pa, to provide alternative office accommodation, initially for the

Ministry of Labour A ministry of labour ('' UK''), or labor ('' US''), also known as a department of labour, or labor, is a government department responsible for setting labour standards, labour dispute mechanisms, employment, workforce participation, training, and s ...

and the

Ministry of Transport A ministry of transport or transportation is a ministry responsible for transportation within a country. It usually is administered by the ''minister for transport''. The term is also sometimes applied to the departments or other government a ...

, later for the

Air Ministry The Air Ministry was a department of the Government of the United Kingdom with the responsibility of managing the affairs of the Royal Air Force and civil aviation that existed from 1918 to 1964. It was under the political authority of the ...

and the Ministry of Defence.

World War II

About to hand back the building, the government extended the lease by again requisitioning the building in the build-up to World War II. Again a home for various departments, room 424 became the first home for

MI9 MI9, the British Directorate of Military Intelligence Section 9, was a secret department of the War Office between 1939 and 1945. During World War II it had two principal tasks: assisting in the escape of Allied prisoners of war (POWs) held b ...

and the

Special Operations Executive Special Operations Executive (SOE) was a British organisation formed in 1940 to conduct espionage, sabotage and reconnaissance in German-occupied Europe and to aid local Resistance during World War II, resistance movements during World War II. ...

, and later the holding point for one of the model planning beaches for ''

Operation Overlord Operation Overlord was the codename for the Battle of Normandy, the Allies of World War II, Allied operation that launched the successful liberation of German-occupied Western Front (World War II), Western Europe during World War II. The ope ...

.''

Metropole building

Purchased from Gordon Hotels after World War II, it was transferred to the

Crown Estate The Crown Estate is a collection of lands and holdings in the United Kingdom belonging to the British monarch as a corporation sole, making it "the sovereign's public estate", which is neither government property nor part of the monarch's priva ...

portfolio. Controlled by the Ministry of Defence, who used it as an overflow building to its main Whitehall complex, by 1951 the Air Ministry was again a major occupant. From the mid-60s until 1992 it housed the bulk of the

Defence Intelligence Staff Defence Intelligence (DI) is an organisation within the United Kingdom intelligence community which focuses on gathering and analysing military intelligence. It differs from the UK's intelligence agencies ( MI6, GCHQ and MI5) in that it is a ...

, the remainder of the analysts and the DIS central staff being sited in the MoD Main Building. In the

James Bond The ''James Bond'' franchise focuses on James Bond (literary character), the titular character, a fictional Secret Intelligence Service, British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels ...

comic strip in the ''

Daily Express The ''Daily Express'' is a national daily United Kingdom middle-market newspaper printed in Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid format. Published in London, it is the flagship of Express Newspapers, owned by publisher Reach plc. It was first ...

'' the artist

Yaroslav Horak Yaroslav Horak (12 June 1927 – 24 November 2020) was an Australian illustrator and comics artist, of ethnic Czech-Russian origin, best known for his work on the newspaper comic strip ''James Bond''. Biography Yaroslaph (Yaroslav) Horak was ...

quite often depicted the Metropole Building as MI6 HQ. Subsequently, the MoD used the building during various refurbishments, when the mirrored ballroom provided the setting for Press Conferences and other major events.

Corinthia Hotel

Having stood unoccupied since 2004, in 2007 the Metropole Building and the adjoining 10 Whitehall Place were acquired for a sum of £130 million by a consortium owned equally by Malta's IHI plc and two of its principal shareholders, the Libyan Foreign Investment Company and Nakheel Hotels of Dubai. In September 2008

City of Westminster The City of Westminster is a London borough with City status in the United Kingdom, city status in Greater London, England. It is the site of the United Kingdom's Houses of Parliament and much of the British government. It contains a large par ...

council approved development of the two buildings as a hotel and residential complex. The building reopened in 2011 managed by

Corinthia Hotels International Corinthia Hotels Limited (CHL), based in Malta, is the operator and developer for Corinthia hotels in Europe, Africa and The Middle East. CHL operates restaurants such as Rickshaw, and has a spa division. It is wholly owned by International Hotel ...

. 10 Whitehall Place has been converted to 12 residences, and a spa run by Espa. In a nod to its past, the official announcement of the James Bond movie ''

Skyfall ''Skyfall'' is a 2012 spy thriller film and the twenty-third in the ''James Bond'' series produced by Eon Productions. The film is the third to star Daniel Craig as fictional MI6 agent James Bond and features Javier Bardem as Raoul Silva, ...

'' was made at a press conference held at the Corinthia Hotel in November 2011. A lengthy sequence in the 2018 thriller ''

Red Sparrow ''Red Sparrow'' is a 2018 American spy thriller film directed by Francis Lawrence and written by Justin Haythe, based on the 2013 novel of the same name by Jason Matthews. The film stars Jennifer Lawrence, Joel Edgerton, Matthias Schoenaert ...

'' was filmed both inside and outside the hotel. The film's press junket and photocall were also later held at the hotel, with star

Jennifer Lawrence Jennifer Shrader Lawrence (born August 15, 1990) is an American actress and producer. She is known for starring in both action film franchises and independent dramas, and her films have grossed over $6 billion worldwide. The List of high ...

dressed in a

Versace Gianni Versace S.r.l. (), usually referred to as Versace ( ), is an Italian luxury elite fashion company founded by Gianni Versace in 1978. The company produces Italian-made ready-to-wear and accessories, as well as '' haute couture'' under it ...

gown that attracted media attention.

Artist in residence

Begun in 2011, Artist in Residence is a performance usually lasting one hour that takes place on several dates. Since it began the hotel has invited individual writers, theatre companies and filmmakers to respond by application. The performer is normally an artist winning a national competition. The opera '' Found and Lost'', by artist-in-residence

Emily Hall Emily Hall (born 30 March 1978) is a composer of classical music, electronica and songs. Her music has been performed by the Duke Quartet, the London Symphony Orchestra, the Brodsky Quartet, the London Sinfonietta, and the Philharmonia; it ha ...

, was performed in the hotel in January and February 2016.

References

External links

Corinthia London official website
at the

{{Coord, 51.5066, -0.1243, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title Hotel buildings completed in 1885 Hotels in London Hotels in the City of Westminster Installations of the Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom) Hotels established in 1885 Hotels disestablished in 1946 1885 establishments in England