Sanctum Soho - London

Anyone who has been involved in opening a new hotel would have to question the wisdom of allowing a fly-on-the-wall camera crew to document the fraught process in its entirety. But for Mark Fuller, the larger-than-life “music manager turned nightlife impressario” behind Sanctum Soho, publicity is publicity, and his willingness to allow a production company to film the creation of the hotel resulted in three hours of TV coverage, on a primetime Friday night slot on BBC1 usually reserved for Jonathan Ross. The programme’s title – ‘The Rock ‘n’ Roll Hotel’ – was one Fuller could have chosen himself for an advertising campaign, even if its content was not entirely flattering.

The hotel had already benefited from a minor PR triumph when reports that Iron Maiden were behind the hotel appeared in The Sunday Times (in fact their co-manager Andy Taylor is one of the venture’s backers). Instead the main players in this £10m investment are Fuller’s Concept Venues, and property developer John James’ Soho Estates. The project team has set about converting two enviably located townhouses on Soho’s Warwick Street into a boutique hotel, with architects Smith Caradoc-Hodgkins charged with transforming the Victorian buildings into a 30-guestroom property, with underground cinema, a ground floor 60-cover restaurant, and a private rooftop garden, complete with alfresco hot-tub. 

The site consists of two Arts & Crafts period buildings, one of which is Grade II listed. Having been originally created as workrooms for the nearby Liberty store, these have been converted from their existing use as office space, with due respect to the architectural context of the area. The period façades have been retained, with a new steel framed structure added behind them to allow common floor levels for both buildings, and a new roof storey added at the top.
Interior designer Lesley Purcell of Can Do has conceived spaces that combine “eccentric fun and frivolity alongside classical lines and intrinsic style.”

“The brief was to create bedrooms that would delight well-travelled guests looking for a unique, yet quintessentially London place to stay,” explains Morris. “With a focus on the music and media industry the client wanted to ensure the hotel was an attractive choice for those with a creative bias, whilst catering for the tastes and needs of the business and leisure market.”

The lobby is decorated with paintings commissioned from London artist Xavier Pick. Light oaks, timbers and parquet flooring sit alongside the original imposing staircase, with two fireplaces flanked by oversized wing chairs. Although initial plans for a  revolving door and cage lift did not come to fruition, bespoke ironwork around the entrance and liftshaft adds to the traditional feel. Corridors are lined with dark aubergine walls, oak floors and inset custom runners. Guestroom doors are adorned with handles made of Swarovski crystal and unlocked with a classic metal key.

Within the thirty individually designed rooms, five distinct colour schemes are present, each assigned its own descriptive phase by the project team. In the “dark and sultry” rooms, Art Deco timber veneers are set against velvet Turnell & Gigon drapes and Abracadazzle chocolate walls. All-black bathrooms feature Fired Earth inset mosaics and aviator-style Lefroy Brooks Bel Air taps. The “glittering and glamorous” spaces have mirrored surfaces, silver drapery, glass-beaded wallpaper and liquid silver tiles. “Opulent and decadent” rooms have imposing black four-poster beds against a colour scheme of deep purples and gold. In the “stern and kinky” boudoirs, antique mirrors sit alongside silk drapes and a carved amethyst velvet chaise longue. Finally, the “flirty and feminine” scheme uses pale nudes and pinks to provide “romantic rooms of baroque fantasy,” housing French Louis XIV style furniture or curved sofas and circular beds by online retailer Bedmill.

Much of the bespoke furniture has been manufactured to Can Do’s designs by Teddy Francis Furniture, whilst individual pieces have been sourced from the likes of William Yeoward and Julian Chichester.
Morris has made no attempt to create an illusion of space, deciding the hotel should embrace its boutique quality and focus on providing intimate and sexy spaces within its footprint.

Innovations introduced to work within the limitations of the property include in-room Wii Fits (as the hotel is too small to house a gym) and specially designed in-room cocktail bars which double as workstations to provide a twist on the standard hotel room desk. Other in-room facilities include MP3 docking stations, DVD players, complimentary WiFi, Frette bed linen, plus luxurious bathrobes, slippers and towels.
The largest space – and one Fuller will no doubt be hoping to rent out to touring bands – is the garden loft suite, with its own design scheme of velvety reds and bronzes. This accommodation provides two junior suites complete with kingsize beds, two freestanding baths, shower rooms and dressing areas as well as its own cocktail bar and a private roof terrace – both of which can be used separately to the sleeping quarters for private parties or as a resident’s bar.

If exclusivity has been the aim of the roof terrace, the hotel’s No. 20 restaurant hopes to become an accessible destination in its own right. Head Chef Gavin Austin has created a seasonally influenced modern British menu combining comfort food with classic grill dishes. Breakfast, Sunday brunches and afternoon teas are also served throughout the week.

Faced with a number of structural issues in designing the restaurant, Can Do decided to accentuate these obstacles rather than attempt to hide them.

Four huge circular columns have been clad in rhubarb pink glass rods with polished brass collars and angled downlighters to create maximum sparkle.

A coffered ceiling delineates the main body of the restaurant whilst the chef’s ‘pass’ has been framed in a timber profile to reflect the cornice detail present throughout the hotel, and create a sense of theatre. 
The bar is tucked into the corner to create a discreet area from which guests can survey the room but not feel isolated. It comprises a shimmering curved structure with a custom designed polished brass handrail complete with mermaid figure bar clamps.

Highly polished timber veneer table tops, dining chairs in glossy Jason D’Souza leather, and curved bronze button-back banquettes upholstered in bronzed gold leather from Andrew Muirhead, together with iconic London imagery by Xavier Pick, set against Altfield old gold-rose wall coverings, complete the look.

The marketing of Sanctum Soho suggests its owners are hoping for a whiff of tabloid notoriety. Its roof terrace is set to become “synonymous with scandal”. The bedrooms are “naughty spaces that tease with the possibility of being hired by the hour...”. Room service options include a ‘box of tricks’ comprising Miller Harris scented candles, sexy Myla underwear, Jimmy Jane intimacy kits and “much, much, more” (live snakes and Mars Bars perhaps?). Private security and guestlists can be arranged at the drop of the concierge’s quirky bowler hat. Other services include hiring a Harley Davidson to ride around Soho (rather than the hotel corridors, as Led Zep’s John Bonham famously did at the Hyatt on Sunset Boulevard). The flatscreen TVs are no doubt firmly fixed to the walls, but if anyone does manage to throw one out of the window, one would imagine it would not be as satisfying an experience as hurling the bulky cathode-ray boxes of old. But then this is a 21st century rock ‘n’roll hotel, after all.

Sanctum Soho Hotel
20 Warwick Street
Soho, London W1B 5NF, UK
Tel: +44 (0)20 7292 6100
www.sanctumsoho.com

Rooms    30 guestrooms
Dining    No.20 Restaurant
Drinking    Rooftop Garden residents bar
Facilities    The Cinema at Sanctum