15 June 2020: Blue Orchid Hotels will turn London’s 55 Broadway – the Art Deco former headquarters of the Underground Electric Railways – into a new hotel complex after being granted planning permission by Westminster City Council.
The early-modernist style structure was designed in 1929 by architect Charles Holden for the Underground network and was London’s first ‘skyscraper’. It was quickly dubbed ‘the Cathedral of Modernity’ by the Observer, and was part of a new era of municipal design.
The Grade I-listed building, together with 100 Petty France and Wing Over Station, will undergo adaptive reuse for the 500-room hotel project. It will also include the creation of events facilities, spa facilities, restaurants and retail.
Hospitality group Blue Orchid has tapped firm EPR Architects to oversee the transformation of 55 Broadway. It will retain Grade-listed features ranging from panelled wood interiors to light fixtures, brass door plates, and tiles.
