The Lanesborough – from hospital to Regency palace at Hyde Park Corner

The Lanesborough at Hyde Park Corner was a hospital for almost 250 years before it became a hotel in 1991. Here is the story of the building that the Duke of Westminster bought back for £6,000 – and which today has a butler for every room.

The Lanesborough stands at Hyde Park Corner in Knightsbridge, opposite Wellington Arch and Apsley House, with Hyde Park on one side and Belgravia on the other. The white neoclassical façade looks as if it was once a palace. In reality, it was a hospital – and it is this history that makes the house so unusual among London's grand hotels.

01Lanesborough House and St George's Hospital

In the 18th century, this was the site of Lanesborough House, the London residence of the Viscounts Lanesborough, then a country house on the edge of the city. In 1733, St George's Hospital opened in the house. A hundred years later it was in poor condition, and it was demolished to make way for a new hospital with 350 beds. Construction began in 1827 to designs by the architect William Wilkins, and the hospital was in full operation by 1844. Today the building is Grade II* listed.

St George's Hospital operated here until it moved to Tooting in south London in the 1970s. By 1980, the building at Hyde Park Corner stood empty.

02The clause that gave the duke the house for £6,000

When the health service decided to close the hospital, it emerged that a former Duke of Westminster, when selling the building to the state, had inserted a clause: if the building ever ceased to be a hospital, his estate could buy it back at the same price. The Duke of Westminster exercised the right and bought the building back for its 19th-century price, £6,000, according to Wikipedia.

Insider tip

The hotel is by Hyde Park Corner Underground station.

03Rosewood in 1991, Oetker in 2014 and Alberto Pinto's Regency

Rosewood Hotels & Resorts rebuilt the house and opened it as a hotel in 1991, with furniture from Arthur Brett and Sons. In 2002, operations passed to Starwood's St. Regis brand, and in November 2014, Oetker Hotels took over – the group's first hotel in the United Kingdom.

The hotel closed in December 2013 for a two-year renovation and reopened in 2015. The interiors were designed in Regency style by the late French interior architect Alberto Pinto. The same year, The Lanesborough was described as London's most expensive hotel. Today it has 93 rooms and suites, including a Royal Suite with seven bedrooms, which Country & Town House describes as one of the largest in London.

04The butlers, the Library Bar and The Lanesborough Grill

Every room has round-the-clock butler service, reachable at the press of a button: clothes are pressed, bookings changed and tea brought up whenever you like. The Library Bar has cognac dating back as far as the 1770s, and the newer Negroni Salon is devoted to the negroni. The wine cellar can be booked for private dinners.

The dining room has its own MICHELIN history. In 2009, Apsleys opened under Heinz Beck, the three-star chef from La Pergola in Rome, and the restaurant was awarded a star in January 2010, less than five months after opening – faster than any other new London restaurant. Its successor, Céleste, was awarded a star in 2016 but lost it in 2022. Today, the dining room is called The Lanesborough Grill and sits beneath a glass roof over a former open courtyard; afternoon tea is also served here.

Beneath the house lies The Lanesborough Club & Spa, around 1,700 square metres, with a hydrotherapy pool and heat rooms. The spa is open to hotel guests and to members from the area.

05Knightsbridge and Belgravia around the hotel

From Hyde Park Corner, you can reach Knightsbridge, Sloane Street and Belgravia's squares on foot. See the streets in VERA PI's street files for Knightsbridge, Belgrave Square and Sloane Street, or start at VERA PI's London guide.

For a weekend. For a lifetime.