London’S Café Royal has been on the planet even longer Queen Elizabeth II — that’s crazy old. In its former life as a boozy celeb clubhouse, the 1865 West End haute haunt hosted literary luminaries such as Oscar Wilde, Virginia Woolf, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle — even badboy occultist Aleister Crowley. (Maybe especially?)
But it wasn’t just subversive scribes wining and dining at the Café Royal: Here, Mick Jagger painted the town black, Ziggy Stardust hosted his retirement party and Muhammad Ali razzle-dazzled fans by the double-decker busload.
But all good things come to an end, and in 2008, the place closed for head-to-toe renovations. Reopened just last year as a hotel, with elegant interiors by architect David Chipperfield, it’s now a 159-room, history-filled, throwback-meets-Tomorrowland kind of place. Beyond its posh provenance, new at the hotel are its six “historic suites,” unveiled in stages — the first opened in June, the last debuts next month. All facing Regent Street, the suites combine architectural heritage with contemporary design, like the original Tudor fireplace in the fifth-floor Tudor suite. Also included: personal butler service, chilled Champagne, Wi-Fi, free spa treatments and bathroom mirror TVs.
The half-dozen suites come in a variety of flavors — from the modest 872-square-foot Marquis Suite, to the rub-it-in-everyone’s-face 2,282-square-foot Empire Suite, in all of its ornate, gilded, griffin-supported mirror and Carrara-marbled bathroom grandeur. It offers the best views of Piccadilly, it does, it does.
But it’s Café Royal’s Dome Suite that’s vying for most rock-n-roll, with its DJ booth, endless LED lighting and Ming Green marble bath. Imagine all the Bowie-worthy shenanigans you could try in there! There’s also a king-sized bed, should you actually wish to sleep.
æ Info: From $6,474; hotelcaferoyal.com