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The Savoy is the most famous hotel in London. The Savoy belongs to London like the five o- Clock tea, fish and chips and the Queen. You will enjoy the fish and chips and it will not cost you a lot. You would have to pay much more for an Afternoon tea in the Savoy-35€, but, maybe you will see the Queen there, and you will never forget this event, with traditional scones, cream, piano music and Butler. You have to wear suit and a tie there.
The dress regulations are very strict, the singer Bob Dylan, the model Twiggy and the actress Geraldine Chaplin had to leave the restaurant, because they were not dressed correct, on the other side a crocodile as a companion is no problem in the Savoy; the opera singer Luisa Tetrazzini was allowed to take hers for the dinner.
The hotel is located between the City and the West End of London and built on the banks of the Thames. The Savoy provides fantastic views of the river and the city beyond. For this reason Claude Monet rent the topmost floor and drew the Thames bridges from there.
Before we start to explain the history of the hotel Savoy, we have to mention the theatre Savoy, which you’ll find just beyond the doorstep of the hotel. This was founded by Richard D´Oyly Carte in 1881, expressly for the production of the works of Gilbert and Sullivan, who created light operas that have charmed audiences for many generations.
Richard D´Oyly Carte was an impresario of a dramatist W.S. Gilbert and composer Arthur Sullivan. The theatre was the very first public building in the world, which had electric lighting. The building was designed by C.J. Phipps, and the operas of Gilbert and Sullivan are still on the theatre program, for example “Iolanthe”, “Princess Ida”,” The Mikado” and many more.
The hotel was a development by Richard D´Oyly Carte alongside his flourishing Savoy theatre and it opened on 6th August 1889. It was one of the earliest London hotels with the new technology: electric lighting, electric lifts and startling number of bathrooms: 70 in total. The Times was wondering if the hotel expects amphibians as guests, because those days the Butler brought in the morning cup of tea, newspaper and a jug of water for washing into the room. The original designer is unknown however T.E. Collcutt played a large part of designing the original part of today’s hotel.
The hotel and the theatre are named after the palace of Peter of Savoy from 13th century, who was an uncle of Eleanor of Provence, wife of Henry III. This palace was destroyed in the 14th century by rebels: a number of the rebels were executed but some of them lost their lives when in a drunken state, they were trapped in the wine cellars as the house above burned down. After this the palace was hardly used and around 1505 restored as a building of a hospital of St. John the Baptist. In 1864 a fire destroyed virtually everything except the walls. Part of the old Savoy Palace building was used as a military prison.
It took 5 years to finish the hotel and this started with a glittering first season. D´Oyly Carte ensures the Savoy’s continued success by engaging celebrated hotelier Cesar Ritz from Paris as a manager, and August Escoffier became the first Maitre chef.
Escoffier created unique dishes for Sarah Bernhard, she made the Savoy her London residence, and he created a dessert especially for Nelly Melba- Péche Melba. Oscar Wilde lived there and made the Hotel popular with his scandals; Caruso stayed and sang at the Savoy and Maria Callas later, too. The royals like the Prince of Wales in 1898, the Queen Mum and Queen Elisabeth today have been the guests of Savoy. Colourful Indian maharajas had their servants sleeping in front of their doors. Every Prime Minister of England chose the Savoy as a refuge of privacy like Churchill- who founded The Other Club at the Savoy, which still meets there today.
The hotel is very expensive. You have to pay 300€ for the cheapest room, but the service is excellent: you can flood the bathroom, like Elton John did and the staff will not let you feel, you have done something wrong.
The Savoy, perfectly situated, near shops of the West End and Covent Garden, only a short walk away from the City of London, with the famous riverside front, has always been a favourite place for London society. During the 1990s, the Savoy has been extensively restored. Today, the Hotel offers new rooms and facilities with advanced systems and technology, large conference and banqueting facilities, as well as an extensive range of private dining and meeting rooms, the fitness gallery, swimming pool and the latest health facilities, beauty treatments.
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