BathEmpire

A £200m facelift for the Savoy, and all because of the bathrooms

Posted on 17. Nov, 2010 by Charlotte Laing in Weird and Wonderful

The Savoy in London, the very first hotel ever to fit en-suite bathrooms, has just re-opened after a massive refurbishment.

It would be an understatement to say that the place now looks a million dollars, to be precise, it looks £200 million pounds. Yes, that was the eye-watering cost of the makeover.

It probably makes your plans for renovating your home seem pretty modest!

The building is still recognisably the Savoy, with its spectacular mix of Edwardian and art deco style, but nearly everything is new.

It’s upstairs, in the bedrooms and suites overlooking the Thames where the most significant structural changes have taken place – and it’s all because of the bathrooms.

That could be our slogan here at BathEmpire, couldn’t it? But I digress.

The reason the en-suite bathrooms have caused so much trouble at the Savoy is that they were added after the hotel was built.

When the hotel was completed in 1890 the bathrooms weren’t en-suite, but it was soon realised that upper crust guests would consider this a drawback.

The bizarre solution was to build a new facade and to put in bathrooms in between the old and new facades. It all sounds great until you realise that this means that the stunning river and city views that the Savoy was so famed for were now only available from the en-suite bathrooms.

We’re bathroom fanatics, but even we think this is a bit excessive.

Part of the refurbishment has involved moving the bathrooms to the back of the suites, restoring the glorious views in the bedrooms.

And as you’d expect, the bathrooms they’ve installed are pretty swish, with claw-footed roll top baths and rain showers, as you can see from the pictures.

Now we just need to find the £350 a night it costs to stay there.

What do you think? Did you stay at the Savoy when the bathrooms were at the front of the suites and experience the views? Or have you stayed there since the hotel reopened? We’d love to hear your stories.

Tags: bathroom refurbishments, hotel bathrooms, hotel refurbishments, rain showers, roll top baths, The Savoy hotel