Driscoll House
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This article is about the London hotel Driscoll House. There is another Driscoll House at University of Texas at Austin and a fictional Driscoll House in the Australian prison drama Prisoner
Driscoll House is a hotel at 172 New Kent Road, London SE1, aimed primarily at international visitors, and is a short walk from Elephant and Castle station. When this distinctive Baroque style building opened as Ada Lewis House in 1913, it was one of a small number of hostels for women in London. The opening ceremony was performed by Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll and the building was named after Ada Lewis, wife of philanthropist Samuel Lewis.
The building was bought by Terence Driscoll in the 1950s. He renamed the building after himself, and plaques were later added to the front of the building commemorating US and Commonwealth nationals who died in World War II. Guests stay in 200 small single "cubicles" with a single bed, sink and in some rooms a chest of drawers. There are communal bathrooms and toilets. The interior of the hotel is largely unchanged since 1913, with green and red tiled walls in the television rooms and lounges, eight pianos, a table tennis room, a communal dining room with long tables and a laundry room complete with mangle. One major change did occur over the years: the hotel now accepts male as well as female guests.
In his 2003 book Do Not Pass Go, Tim Moore describes his visits to the locations of all the Monopoly squares in London. As he ends his journey at the Old Kent Road, he tries to stay at
Driscoll House, but Mr Driscoll turns him away, explaining that the hostel is for foreign students only. Moore's Icelandic wife Birna does manage to stay at Driscoll House for one night.
Driscoll House does offer short-term accommodation, although several residents have lived there long-term, including one woman who has lived at Driscoll House for fifty years. The hotel's publicity explains that "during the past 80 years 50,000 guests have stayed here from 210 different countries".
In 2005 Terence Driscoll, now in his mid-90s, was fined £16,000 for food hygiene violations. [1] He announced in court that he had recently sold the hotel for more than £1 million. Oracle Homes subsequently applied for planning permission to convert it into 91 residential social housing units, but this application was denied by Southwark Council in December 2005. In March 2006, a local campaign group applied to make Driscoll House a listed building. [2] Driscoll House was due to close at the end of that month, but with the refusal of planning of permission and the pending application for listed status, the hotel now plans to remain open for another three years. Terence Driscoll continues to work every day at the hotel reception, which has a small shop selling postcards featuring Mr Driscoll himself.
