The Sanderson Hotel is a hotel on

Berners Street Berners Street is a thoroughfare located to the north of Oxford Street in the City of Westminster in the West End of London, originally developed as a residential street in the mid-18th century by property developer William Berners, and later ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, built in 1958 as the new headquarters and showroom for Arthur Sanderson and Sons, manufacturers of wallpaper, fabrics and paint, for the company's centennial. The building was designed by architect

Reginald Uren Reginald Harold Uren FRIBA (5 March 1906 – 17 February 1988) was a New Zealand-born architect who worked in the United Kingdom for most of his career. Life and work Uren was born in the Belfast area of Christchurch, South Island on 5 March ...

, of the architectural firm, Slater and Uren. The original design allowed for dynamic room configurations. The building surrounds a courtyard with a

Japanese garden are traditional gardens whose designs are accompanied by Japanese aesthetics and philosophical ideas, avoid artificial ornamentation, and highlight the natural landscape. Plants and worn, aged materials are generally used by Japanese garden desi ...

Grade II* In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, medieval castles, Roman forts and country houses. The charity states that i ...

in 1991. After refurbishment by

Philippe Starck Philippe Starck (; born 18 January 1949) is a French industrial architect and designer known for his wide range of designs, including interior design, architecture, household objects, furniture, boats and other vehicles. Life Starck was born on ...

and

Denton Corker Marshall Denton Corker Marshall is an international architecture practice based in Melbourne, Australia. History Denton Corker Marshall was established in Melbourne, Victoria, in 1972. It was founded by architects John Denton, Bill Corker, and Barrie ...

, it was reopened by

Morgans Hotel Group Morgans Hotel Group (NASDAQ: $MHG) was a global, publicly-traded hotel company founded by Ian Schrager, inventors of the boutique hotel category with the 1984 opening of Morgans Hotel in New York City. MHG was listed on the NASDAQ exchange for o ...

as the Sanderson Hotel on 25 April 2000. In 2019 the hotel was sold to Vivion, a real estate firm backed by the Israeli tycoon Amir Dayan. The hotel occupies the site of 54 Berners Street, known for the Berners Street Hoax of 1810.

Design features

The building was constructed with a

modernist Modernism is both a philosophy, philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western world, Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new fo ...

steel and glass frontage that is seen in the opening footage of the ''

Danger Man ''Danger Man'' (retitled ''Secret Agent'' in the United States for the revived series, and ''Destination Danger'' and ''John Drake'' in other overseas markets) is a British television series that was broadcast between 1960 and 1962, and again b ...

'' television series. The courtyard garden, situated on top of an underground

car park A parking lot (American English) or car park (British English), also known as a car lot, is a cleared area intended for parking vehicles. The term usually refers to an area dedicated only for parking, with a durable or semi-durable surface ...

, fronted the wholesale trade sales area to the right; the retail areas were to the left and centre. The courtyard garden, designed by landscape architect Philip Hicks, was recreated for the hotel and has been included on the

register of Parks and Gardens of Historic Interest; originally open to the sky, it was glazed over in the hotel conversion. The lobby has both lifts and a grand flying staircase which rises against a large backlit stained glass mural masking the lift shafts; this is the largest secular work by John Piper. The first floor was devoted to wallpaper displays and its lengthy retail counter allowed for conversion to a long bar. The second floor was reserved for fabric displays, while the third floor held management offices and an interior design studio. After refurbishment as a hotel, each room had a sleigh bed with a reproduction of the 1895 painting ''The Cloud'' by Prince Eugen bolted to the ceiling above, and a pair of penis-shaped dumbbells. The rooms were redesigned in 2014 by Tim Andreas. The hotel's Malaysian-European restaurant Suka was designed by India Mahdavi with furnishings by Tom Dixon.

Popular culture

In summer 2009, weekly live music sessions in the Sanderson's courtyard called 'Sanderson Predicts' featured new artists, including both Marina & The Diamonds and

Little Boots Victoria Christina Hesketh (born 4 May 1984), better known by her stage name Little Boots, is an English electropop singer-songwriter and DJ. She was previously a member of the band Dead Disco. Since performing as a solo artist she has releas ...

performing before they were big stars.

References

External links

Sanderson Hotel
{{Hotels in London 2000 establishments in England Hotels established in 2000 Hotels in London