The Dorchester

The Dorchester is a five-star hotel on Park Lane and Deanery Street in Westminster, Greater London, to the east of Hyde Park, one of the world's most prestigious hotels. It opened on 18 April 1931, and still retains its 1930s furnishings and ambiance, despite later alterations.

Throughout its history, the hotel has been associated with the rich and famous. During the 1930s, it became known as a haunt of writers and artists such as poet Cecil Day-Lewis, novelist Somerset Maugham, and the painter Alfred Munnings. It has held prestigious literary gatherings, such as the "Foyles Literary Luncheons", an event the hotel still hosts today. During the Second World War, the strength of its construction gave the hotel the reputation of being one of London's safest buildings, and some politicians and military leaders chose it as their London residence. Princess Elizabeth was at the Dorchester the day before her engagement to Philip Mountbatten was announced on 10 July 1947. The hotel has long been popular with film actors, models, and rock stars; Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton often stayed at it during the 1960s and 1970s. It became a Grade II Listed Building in January 1981 and in 1985 was bought by the Sultan of Brunei. It now belongs to the Dorchester Collection, owned by the Brunei Investment Agency.

In the 1950s, the stage set designer Oliver Messel made changes to the interior of the hotel. Between 1988 and 1990, it was completely renovated at a cost of $100 million by Bob Lush of the Richmond Design Group.

Today, the Dorchester has five restaurants: The Grill, Alain Ducasse, The Spatisserie, The Promenade, and China Tang. Alain Ducasse's restaurant is one of the UK's five 3-Michelin-starred restaurants. Afternoon tea, a tradition at the hotel since it opened in 1931, is served every day of the week at five in the afternoon in The Promenade and the Spatisserie. Harry Craddock, a well-known barman in the 1930s, invented the "Dorchester of London" cocktail here at the Dorchester Bar. A well-lit plane tree stands in the front garden and was named as one of the Great Trees of London by the London Tree Forum and Countryside Commission in 1997.

The site was originally part of the Manor of Hyde, which was given by William the Conqueror to Geoffrey de Mandeville. Joseph Damer acquired it in the 18th century, and a large house was constructed in 1751. It was named Dorchester House in 1792, after Damer became the Earl of Dorchester. In the early 19th century it became known as Hertford House after it was purchased by Francis Seymour-Conway, the 3rd Marquess of Hertford, and alterations were made to it. Following the death of Hertford, it was rebuilt as a new Dorchester House for the use of Captain Robert Stayner Holford.

The background to the development of the Dorchester Hotel is complicated.

Sir George Holford died in 1926. His heir was his nephew Edmund Parker, 4th Earl of Morley, who had inherited large debts from his father and grandfather. He immediately put his Holford inheritance of both Dorchester House and Westonbirt House up for sale.

Sir Francis Towle, managing director of Gordon Hotels, saw Dorchester House as an ideal site for a luxury hotel, but his company would not take the project on. However, Prudential Insurance offered to put up £625,000, and Towle approached Malcolm McAlpine, a partner in the building company Sir Robert McAlpine & Sons, civil engineering contractors, offering him the construction contract if McAlpine's would match the Gordon Hotels' contribution of £315,000. This was agreed. Gordon Hotels, the Prudential, and McAlpine planned to form a new company to build and own the new hotel, but the Prudential added a condition to its funding: it would put up £350,000, the cost of buying the house, but no more than that until building work to the value of £200,000 had been completed. McAlpine's refused to agree to this, and the Prudential withdrew; McAlpine's immediately agreed to step into the shoes of the Prudential, but that meant putting nearly a million pounds into the venture, which had a construction contract worth an estimated £900,000.