Brown's Hotel, Mayfair – where Kipling spent his wedding night

Founded by two former domestic servants in the 1830s, Brown's has grown across a row of Georgian townhouses between Albemarle Street and Dover Street, and has served afternoon tea since the nineteenth century.

On 18 January 1892 Rudyard Kipling spent his wedding night at Brown's Hotel, and he stayed on until the 26th. Fifteen years later he wrote of “our faithful, beloved, warm, affectionate Brown's Hotel”. The phrase still suits the place: a hotel that has grown, house by house, across a row of Georgian townhouses in Mayfair.

The entrance is at 33 Albemarle Street, a few steps north of Piccadilly in the City of Westminster, and the hotel has been run by Rocco Forte Hotels since 2003.

01James and Sarah Brown

Brown's was founded in the 1830s by James and Sarah Brown, two former domestic servants, at 23 Dover Street. Sources differ on the year: the hotel gives its opening as 1837, while Wikipedia gives 1832 for the founding. Over the following decades it spread into neighbouring houses, and in 1889 it absorbed the St George's Hotel on Albemarle Street, whose site became the main entrance.

02Roosevelt, Kipling and Christie

In 1886 Theodore Roosevelt stayed at Brown's for fifteen days to meet the residency requirement before marrying Edith Carow at St George's, Hanover Square, on 2 December. The hotel also says that Alexander Graham Bell made the first telephone call in London from here. Agatha Christie is widely held to have drawn on Brown's for At Bertram's Hotel.

The hotel has had its place in larger history too. On 8 December 1941, at a cabinet meeting held at Brown's, the Dutch government in exile declared war on Japan.

03Rocco Forte and Olga Polizzi

In 1948 Brown's was sold to Trust Houses and later became part of the Forte group. Rocco Forte Hotels took over on 3 July 2003, and after a refurbishment costing £24 million the hotel reopened in December 2005. The interiors are by Olga Polizzi, who drew on the literary associations of the house and its former guests. Rocco Forte gives the hotel 115 rooms and suites.

04The Drawing Room, Charlie's and the Donovan Bar

Afternoon tea has been served at Brown's since the mid-nineteenth century, and today it is taken in the Drawing Room, with its original wood panelling. Charlie's, named after the group's founder Lord Charles Forte, serves seasonal British cooking under the chef director Adam Byatt.

The Donovan Bar is named after the photographer Terence Donovan, and its walls carry more than fifty of his black-and-white prints. The cocktail list was created by Salvatore Calabrese.

05Mayfair from the doorstep

Piccadilly, the Royal Academy and Burlington Arcade are moments from the door; Bond Street and the galleries of Cork Street are within a few minutes. The whole city is in VERA PI's guide to London, and more great hotels are collected on metromode.co. In December, read our guide to Christmas in London.

06Making the most of a stay

Book afternoon tea in the Drawing Room, and end an evening in the Donovan Bar among the photographs. The Royal Academy is a short walk away for a morning visit, and Kipling's line about the hotel is worth keeping in mind as you settle in.

For a weekend. For a lifetime.