Kimpton Fitzroy London Hotel

The Kimpton Fitzroy London is a five-star hotel on Russell Square in Bloomsbury, Camden. It was built in 1898 by architect Charles Fitzroy Doll and opened in 1900 as the Hotel Russell. The building is covered in pale terracotta and modelled on a Paris château. Its grand staircase is made of Pyrenean marble and there is an interior sunken garden. Four queens look down from statues above the entrance, carved by Henry Charles Fehr. The hotel’s past includes links to the Titanic. The architect designed the ship’s dining room and the hotel’s restaurant, now called Fitz’s, copies its layout. A bronze dragon named Lucky George stands on the second-floor stairs; an identical copy sailed on the Titanic. During the Second World War the hotel stayed open while others were taken over. A wartime air raid damaged the dome, which was never rebuilt. Today the hotel mixes old and new. The bedrooms carry designs by textile artist Kit Miles, while lead designer Tara Bernerd & Partners shaped the public areas. The restaurant Fitz’s serves meals in a room almost identical to the Titanic’s dining saloon. Guests walk past the marble staircase and the sunken garden, and see the four queens above the door. The hotel has also appeared in television shows and musicals.