36
the World Of Hospitality
Lalit London
Lalit London – Indian opulence
meets Victorian grandeur
Former grammar school becomes London’s first
luxury boutique Indian hotel.
Opening in January 2017 and situated on the South
Bank in the Tower Bridge Conservation Area, the
Lalit London occupies the former home of renowned
London grammar school St Olave’s. An impressive
example of its type, the building was built in two
phases between 1894 and 1896, and was the grand
design of Edward Mountford, the eminent Victorian
architect behind such iconic buildings as the Old
Bailey and Sheffield Town Hall, and an initiator of the
Renaissance style of the 1890s. It housed St Olave’s
until 1968 when the school relocated to its present
home in Orpington. In 1972 it received Grade II
listed status, and after briefly being used by Lambeth
College, it lay empty for some fifteen years. During this
time it was acquired by Berkeley Homes as part of a
broader scheme, and achieved planning permission to
be converted into a hotel.
Hence this property is very special for us.’
The Lalit Suri Hospitality Group meanwhile had
been looking for a London site for their first hotel EPR Architects, working alongside Archer Humphryes
as interior designers, was tasked with fulfilling the
family’s vision of creating a 70-bedroom luxury
boutique hotel redolent of Indian opulence, combined
with the charm of an old-fashioned English school.
The building was, however, by this point in serious
venture outside the Indian subcontinent. The group
acquired the building at an auction for £14.7m in
2012 and embarked on an inspirational legacy project.
Commenting at the time, his wife, Dr Jyotsna Suri,
Chairperson & Managing Director, said: ‘Mr. Lalit
Suri yearned for a hotel in London a city he loved so
intensely that it became his final resting place in 2006. disrepair, and likely heading towards a state of collapse.
An ambitious and sensitive restoration programme,
including a new slate roof, was therefore initiated
with brickwork, rotten timbers and cracked panels all
painstakingly replaced to restore the building to its
former splendour. The original plaster cornices and
dado mouldings were also refurbished, as were all