London may not be under-endowed with luxury hotels, but until now they have tended to cluster around Mayfair and Park Lane. So Four Seasons’ decision to open its second London five-star on the eastern edge of the City financial district, midway between the West End and the investment banks of Canary Wharf, marks a striking shift in the capital’s centre of gravity.
Four Seasons Ten Trinity Square occupies the former headquarters of the Port of London Authority, a grand Beaux-Arts building overlooking the Tower of London, which stood in for MI6 in Skyfall. Built between 1912 and 1922, when London was the greatest seaport in the world, it exudes Edwardian self-confidence, with an opulent marble lobby and walnut-panelled reception rooms that have been carefully restored to their former glory in a six-year, multimillion-pound programme of rebuilding and renovation.
The interiors of the 100-room hotel (which also has 41 serviced apartments that span the top four floors of the building) were designed by Bruno Moinard and Claire Betaille of Paris-based 4BI et Associés, whose previous work includes the Cartier boutique on Central Park and the rooms at the Hôtel Plaza Athénée. The centrepiece, quite literally, is the Rotunda, a glitzy circular lounge in the middle of the building, whose shallow gold-ribbed dome is supported by barley-sugar columns, and surrounded by a series of relief murals intended to evoke the maritime heritage of the site.
Two restaurants open off the lobby: La Dame de Pic, the first British offering from the French-based three-Michelin-starred chef Anne-Sophie Pic, with an equally upscale Asian restaurant designed by Hong Kong’s AB Concept to follow later this year.
Downstairs is the 1,680 sq m day spa, designed in a neo-Roman style by Joseph Caspari, includes eight treatment rooms, a hammam and a 14m pool. More unusually, the ground floor is where you’ll find the nine Heritage Suites, their location capitalising on the original five-metre-high ceilings and period detailing. These open in May along with the third-floor Presidential Suite, which offers dining for eight and a small private terrace – though our vote goes to the Executive Rooms for their winning combination of size and more contemporary design. Eastward ho!
ADDRESS
10 Trinity Square
-
Arthur Casas reimagines Villa Dubrovnik as a modern Adriatic retreatThe Brazilian architect brings poetic restraint and light to Croatia’s most elegant coastal hotel
-
14 of the best new books for music buffsFrom music-making tech to NME cover stars, portable turntables and the story behind industry legends – new books about the culture and craft of recorded sound
-
Margaret Howell marks 55 years in business by reissuing pieces from her archiveThe stalwart of British design will reissue a series of archival silk scarves to celebrate the landmark anniversary, alongside an era-traversing exhibition of foulards at the brand’s Wigmore Street store
-
Rachael Gowdridge reinvents a Victorian public toilet as boutique suites17 years after closing, a public loo on Oxford’s St Giles has reopened as a set of two richly decorated hotel suites
-
Nela is London's new stage for open-fire gastronomyA beloved Amsterdam import brings live-fire elegance to The Whiteley’s grand revival
-
New London restaurant Lagana drizzles Shoreditch with extra olive oilPachamama Group’s latest spot turns the namesake Greek bread into a philosophy, pairing childlike creativity with generous, unfussy cooking
-
Tobi Masa lands at The Chancery RosewoodChef Masa Takayama’s debut London restaurant transforms modernist geometry into a space of ritual calm and culinary purity
-
London’s smash burger obsession goes haute with Supernova MayfairNew York designer Sarita Posada taps into 1970s nostalgia and cinematic restraint for the group’s third outpost in the British capital
-
Peek inside Uchronia’s celadon green suite at the Mandarin Oriental Hyde ParkThe Paris-based studio teamed up with Pantone to transform a suite at the storied hotel into an aquatic dreamscape. Here’s how to check in
-
The Chancery Rosewood: A new chapter for London’s modernist iconAfter years behind closed doors, London’s most anticipated hotel opening finally arrives, proving that some things are worth waiting for
-
The Hart Marylebone marks the next chapter in London’s design-led pubsThe trio behind The Pelican and The Hero turn to Marylebone, fusing Victoriana, intimacy and culinary honesty in their most ambitious project yet
