Wellesley Hotel

The Wellesley Knightsbridge is a luxury boutique hotel, housed in a particularly interesting Art Deco building. Built in the 1920s, the building’s original function was as one of the entrances to Hyde Park Corner Underground station, with a 1920s townhouse above, which later became offices. The facade is strongly reminiscent of its heritage, with the distinctive ox blood red faience tiles which are still seen across London in underground stations. The relatively narrow facade is divided into three equal arches, again a throwback to its use as an underground station. The building was also the former home of the iconic jazz and cabaret venue, Pizza on the Park, before reopening as The Wellesley in December 2012.

The hotel is named after Sir Arthur Wellesley, the first Duke of Wellington and former Prime Minister. As part of the redevelopment of the building Gibberd, with whom Szerelmey is also working on Langley Park, designed two new cigar terraces located either side of the hotel entrance. Szerelmey carried out all the remodeling and restoration work here, removing the existing paving and cladding and replacing with new Portland stone. The new stone comprised the paving, cladding and perimeter plinths with the team installing all of the supporting structures and floor build up as well as cleaning and restoration to part of the existing walls.