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"If less is more, think how much more MORE would be."
Dr. Frazier Crane
If ever an interior design project felt like having a baby, for me it was The Gallery Hotel in London’s Kensington area. The pregnancy was long, the labour was painful, but the baby is beautiful and I love it.
We were approached by the management of the hotel last summer to go in and chat about the refurbishment of the public areas and the two main suites of their property. Originally two vast Victorian town houses now knocked together, The Gallery Hotel imposes in the true sense of the word. And it’s in good company - the Natural History Museum is just down the road, and the Victorian & Albert Museum just round the corner.
It turned out that my clients wanted more than nicely decorated rooms. After all, hotels with pretty rooms are two a penny in London. What they wanted was a "unique selling point" that would make their hotel a "destination venue" for their primarily overseas customers. They wanted "refined elegance" combined with "welcoming homeliness" and they wanted a "marketable character" without turning their venue into a "theme park" hotel. With my head reeling with buzz-words I retired to a safe distance to prepare a proposal.
The interior designer, like the skilful beautician and the economical chef, frequently needs to do the best with what is already there. I had a Victorian building in a Victorian part of town surrounded by grand Victorian museums decorated in full-blooded "high Victorian" style. My hotel was called The Gallery and my clients wanted their guests to feel more at home during their stay. The concept of "The Victorian Artist at Home" was born.
OK, so it wasn’t quite that fast and painless. It never is, and in this case it took hours of research in libraries and museums, and, more importantly, courage to make the decision that the time was right to promote a style of decoration which hasn’t been seen for over 100 years. The high Victorian style is surprisingly easy to do badly. Even most Victorians did it badly but got away with it because.....well because they were Victorians. But my courage would not be enough; I needed my client to be courageous too. Over-application of the design brakes would derail the entire project; it had to be done thoroughly or not done at all.
The lobby and reception area were to be the lounge of our unnamed Victorian artist. Already panelled in mahogany-stained wood, it had the masculine skeleton upon which I intended to hang some bohemian opulence. Out went the huge squat furniture, the enormous coffee table, and the tropical fishtank. In came comfortable wing-backed chairs in leather and distressed velvets, tapestry cushions, Persian carpets, kilims on side tables, blue and white china lamps, fans, peacock feathers, a gorgeous original marble Victorian mantelpiece circa 1850, a scattering antique furniture, and an eclectic mix of original Victorian artwork to bring the dark walls to life.
The existing basement anteroom was the only room I’d ever encountered that seemed to be in a bad mood. Dark, dank and gloomy, it was used only as a shortcut through to the Breakfast Room. Not only did it badly need redecorating, it also needed an identity. What could this awkwardly shaped room be used for? What would entice the customers to use it? Once again I focussed on the Victorian artist theme, and decided to dedicate the space to William Morris, the hugely talented and prolific Victorian designer, artist and writer and champion of the Arts & Crafts Movement. I renamed the space "The Morris Room" and specified William Morris designs for the wallpaper, fabrics and carpeting. The furniture was to be antique Arts & Crafts pieces, including a spectacular piano and an unusual bar billiards table. The space would become a relaxed, welcoming sitting/reading/games room offering a more casual environment than the lobby.
The two suites were to be the scene for my own splurge of hedonistic excess. Some searching on the internet turned up an American company who reproduce hand- blocked wallpapers to original Arts & Crafts and Victorian designs. Another internet contact resulted in finding a talented furniture maker specialising in bespoke reproduction furniture. A company specialising in reproducing paintings was found to recreate artwork based on the paintings of Lord Frederick Leighton and the "Pre-Raphaelite" Dante Gabriel Rossetti. Bringing on board a contract carpeting company who could custom make appropriate designs from the Victorian era completed the package. The Rossetti Suite and the Leighton Suite were born.
That first concept presentation will live in my mind forever. Hotel owner, managing director and marketing manager sat stony-faced before me without a single twitch or word throughout a presentation that lasted almost one hour. Ornate wallpaper samples, colourful carpet pieces and richly textured fabrics piled onto the table and spilled to the floor. Books on Victorian art and antiques lay strewn about. I could feel the sweat beads on my forehead as my voice slowly crept up the register. Eventually there was no more to show and tell. I said "thank you" in a voice two octaves higher than normal and silence fell. For a moment. The owner leaned forward, smiled, and said, "This pleases me very much". Halleluia!
Several more presentations, long hours of antique sourcing, and eight frenetic weeks of building work and installation followed. Today, at the end of March, my baby is finally taking its first steps alone. And like any proud parent, I want to tell the world about it.
To see photographs of the rooms visit the projects page, to book a stay contact The Gallery on +44 20 7915 0000.
Copyright Adrienne Chinn Design Company Ltd. MMVI
Nothing on this site is to be copied or syndicated without our express written permission
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