Description

TQ 2980 SW CITY OF WESTMINSTER PICCADILLY W.1
81/65 (south side)
The Ritz Hotel
10.3.65
GV II*
Grand hotel. 1906 by Mewés and Davis, their first major London commission.
Norwegian granite and Portland stone cladding one of the earliest steel frames.
Green slate roof. Very much a Parisian design, of rue de Rivoli and Place Vendome
derivation, with typically enlarged yet restrained Beaux Arts detailing. 6 storeys
and 2 tiers of dormers in steep mansard. Podium-ground floor channelled arcade over
pavement, the semicircular arched openings with carved bearded and female head
keystones. Arched openings behind, with late C20 shop fronts,flanking main entrance.
Upper floors,with central and flanking 5 bay pavilions framed by channelled pilaster
strips,have 1st and 2nd floor windows linked by through-storey architraves with
enriched cornices over 2nd floor; segmental arched flat surround 3rd floor windows
with carved head keystones; Louis XV style iron window guards. Mutule cornice over
4th floor; balustraded parapet to set back attic storey; applied pediments to attics
of pavilions. Ornamental leadwork cresting roof ridges. Similar details to return
elevations to Green Park and Arlington Street where there is a wrought iron and
glazed canopied entrance. Richly gilded Louis XV interiors with convincing detailing
executed with splendid panache, concentrated in the central Fountain Court and in
the Restaurant at the Green Park end of the axial promenade-corridor.

Listing NGR: TQ2907280320

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• The Ritz London at Wikipedia
• The Ritz London official website
• Wikidata Q1481002

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Central Leinster: Kildare, Laois and Offaly (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Ireland)
• 
  Pioneers of Modern Design: From William Morris to Walter Gropius (Penguin Art & Architecture)
• 
  London 3: North West: North West v. 3 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Lancashire: Liverpool and the South-West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Devon (Pevsner Buildings of England)
• 
  Pevsner's Architectural Glossary (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Introductions)