City-centre hotel brand Principal will open its first London property later this month, following the £75 million restoration of the former Russell Hotel overlooking Bloomsbury’s Russell Square.
The revamped Charles Fitzroy Doll-designed building will feature a total 334 rooms, starting from 16sqm City Single options, with amenities including Ruark music systems and toiletries by celebrity perfumer Azzi Glasser.
Facilities will include Fitz’s cocktail bar with original features including a large fireplace and stained glass window, all-day dining restaurant Neptune with a central oyster bar, and Burr and Co coffeehouse and bar.
Further spaces will open during May and June, including the hotel’s original ballroom, eight meeting and events spaces, and The Palm Court, with a winter garden at one end and an outdoor terrace looking out onto a living wall at the other.
The exterior of the listed building features four statues of British Queens flanking the entrance, and window frames decorated with the coats of arms of the countries of the world as they existed when the property first opened in 1898.
The Principal hotel brand was formed in November 2016, following the repositioning of Starwood Capital Group’s portfolio of UK properties.
The brand opened its second Edinburgh property in September, and last year announced plans to redevelop The Grand hotel in Birmingham.
The Principal London opens on April 16, with opening rates from £225 per room per night.
