| St. Pancras Renaissance London Hotel | |
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| Location | Euston Road, London, England |
| Coordinates | |
| Opening date | 2011 |
| Developer | Manhattan Loft Corporation |
| Architect | George Gilbert Scott |
| Owner | Marriott International |
| Rooms | 211 |
| Suites | 34 |
| Restaurants | 1 |
| Website | Official website |
The St. Pancras Renaissance London Hotel is a hotel in the English city of London, adjacent to St Pancras railway station. It opened in 2011, but occupies much of the former Midland Grand Hotel which opened in 1873 and closed in 1935. Between 1935 and 2011, the building was known as St Pancras Chambers and was used as railway offices. [1][2]
The upper levels of the original building have been redeveloped as apartments by the Manhattan Loft Corporation, and retain the St Pancras Chambers name.[3]
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In 1865 the Midland Railway Company held a competition for the design of a 150-bed hotel to be constructed next to its railway station, St Pancras, still under construction at the time. Eleven designs were submitted, including one by George Gilbert Scott, which at 300 rooms was much bigger and costlier than the original specifications. However the company liked it and construction began.[4]
The east wing opened in 1873 and the rest followed in Spring 1876. The hotel was upscale and expensive with costly fixtures including a grand staircase, rooms with gold leaf walls and a fireplace in every room. The building had many innovative features such as hydraulic lifts, concrete floors, revolving doors and a fireproof floor construction, though as was the convention of the time none of the guest rooms had bathrooms.[4]
The hotel was taken over by the London, Midland and Scottish Railway in 1922, before closing in 1935, by which time its utilities were outdated and too costly to maintain, such as the armies of servants needed to carry chamber pots, tubs, bowls and spittoons.[4]
After closing as a hotel, the building was renamed St Pancras Chambers and used as railway offices, latterly for British Rail. In the 1980s it failed fire safety regulations and was shut down.[4]
The exterior was restored and made structurally sound at a cost of around £10 million in the 1990s.[4]
Planning permission was granted in 2004 for the building to be redeveloped into a new hotel. The main public rooms of the old Midland Grand were restored, along with some of the bedrooms. In order to cater for the more modern expectations of guests, a new bedroom wing was constructed on the western side of the Barlow train-shed. As redeveloped the hotel contains 244 bedrooms, 2 restaurants, 2 bars, a health and leisure centre, a ballroom, and 20 meeting and function rooms.[4]
At the same time, the upper floors of the original building were redeveloped as 68 apartments by the Manhattan Loft Corporation.[3]
The St. Pancras Renaissance Hotel opened on 21 March 2011 to guests; however, the formal Grand Opening was on the 5th May - exactly 138 years after its original opening in 1873.[5][6]