The Rosewood Hotel in London has no thorns.

I always find it a bit hard to stay in a hotel in a city that I used to live in. It feels odd to be back where you once had a home and then be holed up in a boxy hotel room, doesn’t it? After living in London for five years, it truly does feel like a second home, which is why I was absolutely blown away by the Rosewood Hotel during my recent stay there.

Not only is it beautiful and in a great location, but it makes you feel like you are in the heart of London – not just some generic hotel. And I have to say that it was great to have all of my feelings about my lovely stay confirmed after returning, when I ran into my friend Zesty and artist duo the Haas Brothers. We were chatting about our recent trips to London, and it turned out they stayed at the Rosewood during the Frieze art fair, where they were commissioned to install a sculpture in the courtyard as a part of the hotel’s Frieze-week program. We all agreed that this could very well be the best hotel in London.

The Rosewood is housed in a spectacular Edwardian-style building just steps from Covent Garden. The building at 252 High Holborn began construction in 1912 in the heart of one of London’s oldest thoroughfares. After the completion of the first section in 1914, No. 252 underwent multiple expansions over the next fifty years, as the headquarters of Pearl Assurance Company. After operating for some years as the Chancery Court hotel (managed by Marriott), the iconic Rosewood proprietors (of Carlyle New York fame) bought the property and along with designer Tony Chi aimed to incorporate the classic English heritage of the building with a contemporary flare, leaving no detail left unnoticed. Opening in late 2013, the beautiful renovation covered everything from the guest rooms, to the six restaurants and bars, to the grand ballroom, all exuding the style and excitement of the city like no other. Everything, and I mean everything, from the bathroom sinks to the grand lobby art work is the perfect balance of cutting edge design, mixed with Old-world English style. 

Scarves Bar, design by Martin Brudnizki, is a perfect example of the meeting of two eras with its wood-panneled book cases and oversized fireplace, peppered with small contemporary artworks and beautiful coffee table books. This meeting of new and old extends also to the lobbies, where you will find a fabulous neon sculpture on one end, and a beautifully gilded gold mirror on the other.

What I also love about Rosewood, beyond its impeccable style, is that it focuses on specialties to make each stay experiential and unique. Apart from the spas and restaurants, they have opened the only Slow Food & Living Market in London, which is a kind of weekly farmers market within the grand courtyard of the hotel, where artisans and farmers bring the freshest produce and crafts to sell. It was so wonderful to be able to step outside on Sunday morning to stroll through and see all of the wonderful things the city has to offer right there in one courtyard! 

If any of you dear readers head to London for a visit, please consider staying here or at least popping in to check it out. Tell them Interior Monologue sent you. They might remember me as the woman who wouldn’t stop gushing about her stay and didn’t want to leave upon checkout. Seriously. Food, art, style—this hotel has it all, which is why it truly is the best!