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Many years ago when I was a lecturer in a college ‘up north’ I used to bring students down for an intensive week in London galleries, maybe with a visit to a design studio (Directory company TFL once graciously hosted my group who repaid their kindness by comprehensively looting the drinks cabinet – but then they were art students…).
We would stay in a one of those typical London back street hotels, usually a converted Georgian house in Kensington, close to the Victoria and Albert Museum. Many of these slid down the scale (if there is a down from student hostel) and were converted back to private residences or apartment blocks. Many more, upgraded, provide the smaller hotels that are much of the provision in London today.
Byron is one of these smaller London hotels. Recently it has had a top to bottom refurbishment under the guidance of Directory practice Lee Design Associates. Previous projects carried out by this experienced studio include 3, 4 and 5 star hotels and principal Nancy Lee was once Olga Polizzi’s assistant in running the Design office in the old Forte Hotel chain, then Europe’s largest. Nancy developed the prototype of one of the major budget chains, and has worked extensively in Australia, Singapore and South Africa as well as in London where she is now based.
Hotels like the Byron are operated by family based businesses where every penny is jealously guarded, so budgets are tight but the owners had the foresight to recruit and employ an experienced hotel designer to ensure that every buck brought the best bang possible. Design decisions have balanced the budget against the standards and operational drivers appropriate for an hotel at this level, and tight contract supervision has paid off in the quality of the work carried out, from making sure all floorboards were screwed down to stop the creaking that is so characteristic of old hotels, through to refurbishing and bringing up to date the old fire systems.
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Honor bar hidden in new cupboard - the portrait is of course Lord Byron
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Click here for Lee Design Associates in the Directory
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