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The historic Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park in London has completed "the most extensive restoration in its 115-year history," Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group announced today.
Located adjacent to London's famed Hyde Park, in the city's Knightsbridge neighborhood, Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park originally opened as a gentlemen's club in 1889 and has operated as a hotel since 1902. In 1996, Mandarin Oriental purchased the property -- which has a special entrance reserved only for the Queen of England -- and spent £57 million restoring it to its original grandeur.
As for its latest improvements: Mandarin Oriental has refurbished each of the hotel's 181 guest rooms and suites under the direction of designer Joyce Wang, whose design incorporates art deco-inspired features like carefully curated artwork and custom-designed furniture -- not to mention new amenities. In suites, for instance, Wang has placed record players with vintage vinyl collections, yoga mats for private practice, and reading libraries curated by famed London bookseller Heywood Hill.
Wang also designed two new penthouse suites that will debut in July with private terraces and extensive park views, as well as the hotel's revitalized public areas, including its lobby and inner courtyard. The former features an open flower blossom chandelier and the latter a new green living wall.
Joining Wang on the project was New York-based designer Adam D. Tihany, who oversaw a "light" refurbishment of the hotel's restaurants and a complete makeover of its spa, which features 13 individual treatment rooms, an Oriental Suite with two massage beds and a Rasul water temple, a room designed for Chinese medicine consultations and treatments, a mani-pedi studio, and two "beauty rooms" designed for beauty treatments.
Scheduled for completion in July, the final piece of the renovation is a soft refurbishment of the hotel's meeting spaces, which total nearly 7,000 square feet and can accommodate groups of up to 650 guests.