Facing Hyde Park from the eastern edge of Park Lane, where the treeline of one of London's great royal parks frames the view west, the building that became The Dorchester was designed by William Curtis Green and completed in 1931 — a reinforced concrete structure clad in pale reconstituted stone, its symmetrical facade and projecting cornice giving it the composed authority of an Edwardian palace arrived slightly late to its own era. Across its 250 rooms and suites, the interiors carry the layered quality of a property that has been decorated and redecorated by successive hands rather than conceived as a single design statement, with the traditional register of the guest rooms — camel and champagne damask curtains, lacquered chinoiserie chests, gilt-framed mirrors doubling the light from Park Lane — sitting comfortably alongside newer interventions. The most striking of those interventions is the Bar, redesigned by Thierry Despont with a hammered bronze ceiling, curved banquettes in teal velvet, serpentine patterned carpet, and emerald bar stools at a backlit brass counter — an atmosphere closer to a Parisian boîte of the 1930s than anything conventionally British. The fine dining room housing Alain Ducasse at The Dorchester takes a cooler position, its oak-panelled walls and fibre-optic curtain centrepiece framing tables set with softly upholstered grey armchairs, the whole room pitched at a considered calm that lets the cooking carry the drama.

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Welcome to a hotel alive with a vibrant spirit and convivial soul. A hotel that captures the energy of London and matches its pace, stride for stride. Welcome to The Dorchester.