Key Details

Overview

Great Scotland Yard Hotel building at 1 & 3-5 Scotland Yard is a mixed-use building in London SW1.

The 93,000 sq ft five-star hotel was once the location for the original Great Scotland Yard Metropolitan Police HQ and later the offices for the Ministry of Defence.

The seven-storey hotel launched in late 2019 and comprises 153 bedrooms and 11 suites, and an incredible townhouse suite, part of the original Scotland Yard Police premise.

The hotel is operated by Hyatt, boasting interior designs set to include shields, emblems and historic details etched into glass and metalwork to reference the building’s police and military past.

Some key features of the hotel include a grand entrance lounge, concierge, the main cocktail bar and – accessible via a secret door – the whiskey bar and signature restaurant. As well as a 120 seat main conference room, meeting rooms and function rooms the hotel guests will have access to a library and gymnasium.

Those visiting the hotel are greeted with high ceilings and a feature chandelier by Precioisa and Italian Crema marbling to the reception foyer in a bespoke marquetry design. The walls are lined in walnut paneling, antique bronze mirror work and bespoke joinery to keep in line with the building’s heritage. Other key features include crystal glass sculptures and chandeliers in the cocktail bar as well as Calcutta marble flooring to the passenger lifts, ensuring guests experience true luxury from start to finish.

History

In 2013, Galliard Group acquired a 125 year Crown Estate lease on the building and, in 2016, was exchanged for the forward sale to Abu Dhabi based LuLu Group International for £110 million. Galliard’s construction division worked with hospitality design firm Hirsch Bedner Associates.

Originally there were three Georgian townhouses built at 1-3 Great Scotland Yard in 1812 with a yard to the front and gardens occupying the rest of the site. In 1910, 1 Great Scotland Yard was leased to the armed forces, saving it from demolition, while the remaining townhouses were replaced by the current Edwardian building at 3-5 Scotland Yard.

In Tudor times the location was an Embassy-style dwelling for the Kings of Scotland when they visited King Henry VIII and Queen Elizabeth I. The famous Plaistow Marshes and Jack the Ripper crimes were investigated at Scotland Yard, while novelists Charles Dickens and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle helped make Scotland Yard famous.

Great Scotland Yard was chosen as the London Metropolitan Police’s headquarters when the force was established in 1829 and was the Met’s headquarters until 1890. The current old Scotland Yard property dates to 1910. It was used as an army recruitment office in the First World War, and was where Lord Kitchener made his famous speech telling potential recruits, “your country needs you”.

References:
1. Twenty14 Holdings twenty14holdings.com 2017