The Piccadilly Hotel Explained

Hotel Name:The Dilly London
Location:21 Piccadilly, London, England, United Kingdom
Pushpin Map:Central London
Coordinates:51.5094°N -0.1365°W
Opened Date:
(as The Piccadilly Hotel)
Architect:Richard Norman Shaw
Owner:Fattal Hotels
Number Of Restaurants:2
Number Of Bars:1
Number Of Rooms:280

The Dilly London, known for over a hundred years as The Piccadilly Hotel, is a historic 5-star luxury hotel located at 21 Piccadilly in London, England.

History

The hotel opened in 1908 as The Piccadilly Hotel. The building was designed by Richard Norman Shaw, and it was the first portion of the great scheme for the rebuilding of Piccadilly Circus and the Quadrant of Regent Street to be realised. The hotel was bought by Le Méridien in 1986 and renamed Le Méridien Piccadilly.[1]

In 2010, Starman Hotels, a joint venture between Starwood Capital Group and Lehman Brothers,[2] sold the hotel for £64 million to Host Hotels & Resorts, Dutch pension fund APG and Singaporean sovereign wealth fund GIC.[3] In 2019, APG and GIC bought out Host's share, forming Archer Hotel Capital.

The hotel left the Marriott chain on 26 November 2020,[4] and it was subsequently renamed The Dilly London. In 2022, Archer Hotel Capital sold the hotel to Israel-based Fattal Hotels, which announced plans for a £90 million renovation to reposition the property as a luxury hotel.[5]

The hotel has a health club with an indoor swimming pool, steam room and massage facilities. It is also home to a dance studio where world-competitors practice, and two squash courts. One of the hotel's two restaurants is Terrace at The Dilly, a botanical oasis with views overlooking Piccadilly.

In the 1930s, the hotel had a resident orchestra which broadcast on the radio and was led by Sydney Kyte.[6] [7] They also appeared on commercial recordings, billed as Sydney Kyte and his Piccadilly Hotel Band.[8]

In 1969, the hotel hosted the first international symposium on gender identity, named "Aims, Functions and Clinical Problems of a Gender Identity Unit".[9]

External links

51.5094°N -0.1365°W

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Historic Hotels Then and Now . Historichotelsthenandnow.com . 2015-06-26.
  2. Web site: Host acquires le Méridien Piccadilly, Hotel Analyst .
  3. News: Le Meridien Hotel Sold . The Handbook . 26 July 2010 . 2015-06-26 . https://web.archive.org/web/20131114013016/http://www.thehandbook.com/blog/le-meridien-hotel-sold . 14 November 2013 . dead .
  4. Web site: Le Meridien Piccadilly Exits Marriott System on November 26, 2020. 5 August 2020.
  5. Web site: HVS Europe Hotel Transactions Bulletin Week Ending 21 October 2022.
  6. Web site: Digital Collections, The New York Public Library . (still image) Sydney Kyte, (1850 - 1959) . November 29, 2024 . The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox, and Tilden Foundations.
  7. News: 1939-02-10 . Sydney Kyte and His Band at St George's Hall . 2024-11-29 . . 4.
  8. Book: Rust, Brian . Brian Rust . British dance bands on record 1911 to 1945 . Forbes . Sandy . 1987 . . 978-0-902470-15-6 . Harrow.
  9. Web site: Trans Pioneers – Trans and Gender-Nonconforming Histories Historic England . 2024-03-16 . historicengland.org.uk . en.