St Pancras Renaissance Hotel

February 14, 2011 3:51 AM

The opening of a hotel doesn't normally excite me like this. But anyone who has passed near Kings Cross/St Pancras, London will quite likely share my intrigue with this extraordinary building that has been closed to the public for a generation.

It's my first post here so I'm finding my way with the layout/protocol slightly. Apologies in advance if I stuff it up!

posted by Neil Hunt (30 comments total)

Hey, they restored Valhallah. Wonder if Odin's pissed, in both the American and British senses of the word.
posted by Diablevert at 3:59 AM on February 14, 2011 [2 favorites]

St. Pancreas?

oh.
posted by sonic meat machine at 4:04 AM on February 14, 2011

Oh, wow! Thanks for this - I've been back and forth past this hotel infrequently for most of my life and always thought it was a shame that it was so neglected.

It sounds like it's going to be a beautiful place - but I'm also wishing I could have seen it while it was still full of rotting Miss Haversham splendour after reading that article. I wonder what parts of the movies mentioned it was featured in?
posted by citands at 4:05 AM on February 14, 2011

There is a photo gallery link halfway down this page on the left. This is really neat.
posted by Tchad at 4:10 AM on February 14, 2011 [1 favorite]

steampunk fantasy weekend
posted by ennui.bz at 4:13 AM on February 14, 2011

The bit in Batman Begins is the old crumbling staircase that he leaps down while surrounded by bats. Which was, I think, also the staircase that the Spice Girls danced up and down in the video to their first single.
posted by dng at 4:13 AM on February 14, 2011

You could do tours of the building's interior just before the restoration work began and, even in that state, it was quite magnificent.

My favourite story from those the guide told us concerned the hotel's origins as the Midland Grand, designed to be one of London's flagship hotels when it opened its doors in the 1870s.

Radiators were a new phenomenon at the time, providing the basis for modern central heating, but the developers assumed these would be just a passing fad and that the high-class customers they hoped to attract would continue to expect a real coal fire in every room. Staff had to lug buckets of coal all over the hotel as a result.

In fact, what happened was that central heating quickly became part of the standard package hotel guests expected when they stayed somewhere prestigious like the Midland Grand, and so the place seemed hopelessly old-fashioned from the moment it first opened.

I'm sure the decline of the railways played a much bigger part in the Midland's death, just as your Observer story says, but the central heating debacle was one more nail in its coffin, and I've been boring London cabbies with the story every time we pass the place for years now.
posted by Paul Slade at 4:14 AM on February 14, 2011 [6 favorites]

Supercool exterior. Pity the rooms are in the Marriott house style.

The apartments in the same complex, however, are pretty awesome.

Still, a shame that something ordinary people could connect with at least in a passing way -- via tours, film location uses -- is now again exclusively the preserve of the super rich.
posted by dontjumplarry at 4:22 AM on February 14, 2011 [2 favorites]

Ah wow, I didn't know it was ready to open, how cool. I did a tour of it in the late-90s and it was really peculiar - the incredible gothic interior was there, but overlayed with the remnants of 1960s British Rail offices - brown hessian on the walls, low, polystyrene-looking suspended ceilings etc.

The guy taking the tour said he'd been taking a group round once when one of the visitors said casually that he'd got the old accounts ledgers from the Midland Grand - he'd been walking past a skip one day, seen them all in there and pulled them out. Amazing how such a stunning building could have gone through a phase of being seen as totally gauche and irrelevant.

During its cobwebby phase, the building also featured in the Spice Girls Wannabe video. (On preview - as already mentioned by dng)
posted by penguin pie at 4:36 AM on February 14, 2011

...the care and attention to detail that Sir Gilbert Scott took to ensure this building was the finest in world (sic) still stands today.
source and screenshot in case they fix it

Touch of irony, there, Marriott.
posted by Busy Old Fool at 4:38 AM on February 14, 2011

I went on a tour of the old St Pancras Chambers shortly before it closed, to be turned into a hotel in 2005. Here are a few of my photos from that tour - St Pancras Chambers.

One of the main things I remember the tour leader commenting about was the plumbing. When the hotel was originally built, most visitors wouldn't expect to have their own bathroom - and hence their servants would need to collect water to fill a bathtub. There was no plumbing in the rooms - and only a small number of washrooms in the whole building (for servants' use, rather than guests!).

Needless to say, this presents a major problem when fitting a hotel for modern visitors... and, since this is a Grade I listed building, the Marriott weren't permitted to make any significant changes to the interior of the building. This meant the implementation of "microfiltration" to allow waste from the newly-installed bathrooms to flow through the narrow spaces between the walls.

I don't know about you, but that's something I'd prefer not to worry about when paying upwards of £250 per night!!
posted by MykReeve at 4:42 AM on February 14, 2011 [5 favorites]

You can get a double room for £188 for 2 on their site. Or you can get the Royal suite for £10,000 per night, you know, if you fancy a treat.
posted by biffa at 4:53 AM on February 14, 2011

citands: It was part of the Open House annual thing they do each year where they open private buildings to the public. We went and it was indeed a thing of joyous crumbling beauty - I hope they don't lose that haunted feel when they renovate it.
It had so much detailing everywhere and so atmospheric.
Glad i saw it before refurb and looking forward to seeing it after.

I walked past it an hour ago as I work near - glorious sunshine on it - it looked magnificent and it made me smile to think we are not going to lose an old friend due to neglect.
posted by dprs75 at 5:15 AM on February 14, 2011

More photos of St. Pancras at urban75.
posted by plep at 5:18 AM on February 14, 2011 [1 favorite]

I caught a train there last May and thought they were just stabilizing it, rather than intending to re-open it. I guess I should have paid closer attention. I love it when old buildings like this are restored, it doesn't happen often enough.
posted by tommasz at 6:29 AM on February 14, 2011

Thanks for the post, it's a fantastic place. Looking through the pictures, the modern style of furniture looks boring in the context of that building -- I wish they'd matched the furniture to the architecture.

I can't look at an old hotel without thinking of The Shining and wondering what ghosts may haunt those halls.
posted by DrumsIntheDeep at 7:43 AM on February 14, 2011

It always makes me happy when people do this with old buildings, rather than tearing them down or gutting them and installing a modern interior. Here in Spokane they restored the Fox Theater, an old art deco palace of a place, to its original glory, and it's quickly become a showcase destination for all kinds of artists. There is much to be gained when a building becomes its old self again, especially in our throwaway culture.
posted by hippybear at 7:52 AM on February 14, 2011

I love this part of London not only for the restoration they're doing of this old building, but also because it's just a block or two away from the British Library. Man, I wish I could afford that last apartment they've got available...
posted by Mr. Bad Example at 9:09 AM on February 14, 2011

I'm glad they're restoring it but I do love the idea of the "lavish gothic creepiness" of the abandoned building.
posted by immlass at 9:13 AM on February 14, 2011

If the 6 million people who watched "Wannabe" decided to book a night it would keep the place full for 70 years.

Prospective visitors should be aware of the new Eurostar terminal downstairs - one of the most spectacular station restorations around. So the hotel has a lot to live up to in that respect IMHO.
posted by rongorongo at 10:03 AM on February 14, 2011

I live about 5 minutes away from the hotel and can't believe they're finally opening it! I know it's only been about 5 years but it seems like it's had that scaffolding forever.

I've never had the chance to look around it but I did once hear that it is meant to be one of the most haunted buildings in London - if you believe that kind of thing. Either way, it's absolutely stunning on the outside.
posted by joboe at 10:22 AM on February 14, 2011

I saw all the construction around the station last June- it's nice to see an amazing building restored, but a shame that staying there is priced out of the reach of ordinary people. The cheap rooms aren't even in the original building. I suppose visiting the Coffee Room is a possibility...

hippybear, we have a restored Fox Theater as well, though of a slightly later age. The nice thing about restoring theaters (train stations, libraries) is that anyone can enjoy them. The Oakland Fox is not only a music venue, but the auditorium for the Oakland School of the Arts.
posted by oneirodynia at 10:24 AM on February 14, 2011

Thanks everyone who pointed out photos, I couldn't google at work! I am gutted I never thought to look into tours before, though now I'm wondering what other old, semi-abandoned places might have tours running if only I checked...

I don't think the hotel seems particularly overpriced compared to other luxury London hotels (and even some Marriots). Yeah, I'm not booking the Royal Suite anytime soon, but I can see it making a wonderful anniversary weekend (or similar luxury event) in one of the cheaper rooms. And no one's going to charge for a walk around that gorgeous foyer...
posted by citands at 10:45 AM on February 14, 2011

Maybe we should all meet up for a drink in the bar on opening night?
posted by Paul Slade at 11:12 AM on February 14, 2011 [2 favorites]

The pricing seems right in line with other hotels of that grade in London, and it really has a fantastic location. Were I planning a trip to London after it opens, it would be in high contention for where I would land.
posted by dejah420 at 12:10 PM on February 14, 2011

I just took a walk around St. Pancras and environs for a class on the geography of London I'm taking at UCL. The terminal is gorgeous, and I fully intend to go gawk around the lobby of the hotel as soon as it's open to the public.

The entire area is an interesting example of urban regeneration. North of St. Pancras and King's Cross is a huge area that used to be used for industry and is now kind of a wasteland, but with lots of development happening. If you go walk around the area, there are all kinds of plans posted for what they area will (supposedly) look like when it's all done. There's also a really cute, very unexpected little nature park tucked away next to Regent's canal. It was full of kids and adults learning woodcarving when I was there on Saturday, and I really hope it's enhanced by all the new development.
posted by MadamM at 1:11 PM on February 14, 2011

It ain't really my taste in architecture -- but one of the things I love about London's built environment is the sleek modern alongside the old(er) stuff. I'm really pleased this has a new lease of life and look forward to welcoming some new, new buildings, too.
posted by Lleyam at 1:54 PM on February 14, 2011

Wow. I know St. Pancras well from from fiction: some of the Sherlock Holmes stories used it as a landmark, and I think The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul is possibly the best detective novel ever written. Living ten thousand or so miles away, I just assumed it was still a famously dilapidated Victorian train station. How does Thor get in now?
posted by miyabo at 8:23 PM on February 14, 2011

Wow! Well if people wanted to encourage my participation here by following up with diverse interesting comments and links, you certainly did. I was particularly glad to see the old film footage of the place. Remarkable stuff. Thanks!
posted by Neil Hunt at 11:45 PM on February 14, 2011

I have since remembered, the lack of foresight regarding bathroom provision gets a mention in Bill Bryson's book At Home. Discussing the failure of Victorian hotels that bucked this American trend for indoor bathrooms he says:

"Nowhere was this more memorably demonstrated than at the vast and otherwise glorious Midland Hotel at St Pancras Station in London. Designed by the great George Gilbert Scott, who was also responsible for the Albert Memorial, the Midland was intended to be the most magnificent hotel in the work when it opened in 1873. It cost the equivalent of £300 million in today's money and was a wonder in almost every way. Unfortunately - in fact, amazingly - Scott provided just four bathrooms to be shared among six hundred bedrooms. Almost from the day of its opening the hotel was a failure."
posted by Neil Hunt at 12:59 AM on February 15, 2011