An abandoned church on London’s Southampton Row has been transformed into the 39-room L’Oscar. Parisian architect Jacques Garcia has conjured an ornate interior in a bold palette of deep purple, red, petrol blue and canary yellow, with evidence of the hotel’s ecclesiastical past cleverly woven into the design.
There are original details from tiled floors to fireplaces that feature terracotta panels that depict scenes from the bible. Sharp-eyed guests will spot elements from these panels creatively reinterpreted by Garcia in details around the hotel such as the 495 individual Lalique-style birds that are used as light fittings throughout the hotel or the flora and fauna that is embroidered into bespoke fabrics and furniture designed by Watts of Westminster.
Meanwhile, the building’s Grade-II listed chapel now houses a restaurant run by chef Tony Fleming and a bar is installed where the organ used to be.
