History of Brown's Hotel

Brown's Hotel was founded in 1837. In 1859, Brown's was purchased by the Ford family. Henry Ford installed fixed baths, electric lighting and a lift (one of the first in Britain). He also created the first public dining room in London - prior to this, hotel guests hired individual suites and dined privately.

In 1889, the Ford family purchased the St George's Hotel in Albemarle Street, which backed on to Brown's, and combined the two hotels, adding a fifth floor to both properties. On Albemarle Street, a new front of stucco and entrance portico were built, and two panels of blue and gold mosaic bearing the legend of Brown's and St George's were placed on the wall (both still exist today).

The hotel has hosted some notable people. Alexander Graham Bell went to stay in 1876 to demonstrate his new invention - the telephone - and the first successful telephone call in Great Britain was made from Brown's in 1876. The Niagara Room commemorates the meeting held there in 1890 by the International Niagara Commission, which agreed on 'the adoption of electrical methods as the chief means of distributing Niagara power'; the inauguration of the alternating current system resulted and has subsequently been adopted throughout the world.

In 1886, Theodore Roosevelt stayed at Brown's prior to his second marriage. Royal guests have included Napoleon III and Princess Eugenie in 1871, Queen Elizabeth of the Belgians (who took refuge in the hotel during World War I), Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia and King George II of the Hellenes, who stayed at Brown's for nine years after his exile from Greece in 1924.

Celebrities and writers who have loved Brown's include Cecil Rhodes, founder of Rhodesia, Rudyard Kipling (who completed The Jungle Book there) and Agatha Christie, who based her 1965 thriller At Bertram's Hotel on Brown's. Historian John Lothrop Motley stayed at the hotel in 1874, as shown in a letter he wrote on the 17th of June of that year, to Dutch historian Groen van Prinsterer.

The hotel became part of the Rocco Forte collection of luxury hotels on 3 July 2003, having once been managed by Raffles International Hotels. During 2004-2005 the hotel underwent a £24 million refurbishment and re-opened in December 2005

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Brown's Hotel

Brown's Hotel is a luxury 5-star hotel in London, England. It opened its doors in 1837 and thus is the oldest London hotel still in business. Since 3 July 2003 it has been owned by The Rocco Forte Collection and is a member of The Leading Hotels of the World.

Brown's Hotel is set in the heart of Mayfair on Albemarle Street. It is located within walking distance of shopping streets such as Bond Street and Regent Street in addition to theatres, art galleries and central London landmarks. It also sits on the doorstep of Green Park and Hyde Park.

Interior

The Brown's Hotel is noted for its traditional English Victorian sophistication fused with a contemporary feel. The bedrooms are designed by Olga Polizzi and combine modern features with traditional furnishing and are all individually decorated. The standard rooms are 32 to 40 square metres in size with the suites being 50 to 95 square metres.

The hotel has several restaurants and bars including The Albemarle (formerly the Grill), an informal A La Carte restaurant which serves both English and continental cuisine, the Brown’s English Tea Room which has served afternoon tea and light snacks since the mid nineteenth century and the The Donovan Bar, which pays homage to the British photographer Helmut Newton with his iconic prints. The bar is furnished with wooden floors, black leather seating and dark country check banquettes. In one corner are pornographic photographs and a table for 12. The bar serves over sixty cocktails and thirty wines and champagnes.

The hotel also has 6 conference rooms, serving up to 120 people

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740 Park Avenue

740 Park Avenue is a luxury apartment building on Park Avenue in Manhattan, which has been the home to many wealthy and famous residents. The building also carries the address 71 East 71st Street.

History

An apartment previously belonging to John D. Rockefeller, Jr., currently owned by Stephen Schwarzman, when sold by Saul P. Steinberg in 2000, brought a price "slightly above or below $30 million," reportedly the highest price ever paid on Park Avenue. Rockefeller moved to the building in 1937.

The apartment house has 31 units, and has the highest ceilings and widest hallways on Park Avenue. The exterior of the building is clad with limestone. It was built in 1929, designed by Rosario Candela and Arthur Loomis Harmon, the design partner of Shreve, Lamb and Harmon. The builder was James T. Lee, grandfather of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis.

Life in the building is amusingly described in the New York Social Diary.

In 2005, author Michael Gross published a detailed book on the building and its history, 740 Park: The Story of the World's Richest Apartment Building. According to Gross, builder Lee's daughter Janet Lee Bouvier and son-in-law Jack Bouvier took the final open lease (according to one account, for free), and their daughter Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis grew up there.

Famous residents

* Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis (wife of John F. Kennedy), childhood home.
* David H. Koch, occupies an 18-room duplex on the fourth and fifth floors said to have been purchased in 2005 for $17 million.
* Ronald Lauder, businessman (son of Estée Lauder and brother of Leonard Lauder).
* John D. Rockefeller, Jr., lived from 1937 to 1960 in a 24-room, 12-bath duplex.
* Steve Ross, late CEO of Time Warner
* Stephen A. Schwarzman, CEO of the Blackstone Group (who bought it from Saul Steinberg for just over $35 million).
* J. Ezra Merkin, Hedge-Fund Manager (son of late businessman Hermann Merkin).
* Irene Bouvier, american actress and socialite
* John Thain, last chairman and CEO of Merrill Lynch.
* Thelma Chrysler Foy, automobile heiress.
* Arthur and Joseph Santry, CEOs of Combustion Engineering.
* Vera Wang, bridal gown designer who inherited a 10th and 11th floor duplex from her father, C.C. Wang.

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