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Hotel & Gastronomie

Principle York Hotel

A Sensitive Restoration With Modern Comforts

Bautafel

Projektname:

Principle York Hotel

Ort:

The United Kingdom, York

Bauzeit/Fertigstellung:

2016

Bauherr:

Principal Hotel Company Ltd.

Innenarchitekten:

Originally one of Britain’s greatest railway hotels, the Principal York Hotel has been sensitively renovated and redesigned by Goddard Littlefair in a manner that combines attention to historic architectural detail with modern design and comfort. Situated adjacent to York station and just outside the walls of this ancient city, the York Principal first opened its doors in 1878 and features an impressive facade of Scarborough brick and Tadcaster stone. The commission given to Goddard Littlefair includes the redesign of hotel’s public spaces - including the entrances, reception, corridors, Lobby Lounge and Garden Room - as well as the renovation of the hotel’s bedrooms and suites.

Grand rooms with Victorian grandeur

The Lobby Lounge and the Garden Room form the core of the new scheme’s organization at ground level. A paean to Victorian grandeur, the Lobby Lounge features a dramatic, refurbished ironwork stairwell while the Garden Room looks out onto the hotels extensive gardens. These two grand spaces are visually connected to each other. Physical and visual connections between indoors and outdoors have been enhanced on ground level with the refurbished central entrance, along with two new entrances. In addition, two new entrances were cut into the Garden Room, alongside three more in the refurbished reception area. As a result, the ground floor is flooded with light. 

Relaxation and a residential feel

Upstairs, the interior design concept aims to create a modern and softer interpretation of country house. The 155 guest bedrooms and suites are decorated in a muted soft cream palette with feature wood paneling. Designed by Utopia Projects, a specialist bathroom consultancy, the bathrooms feature polished marble surfaces with sanitary fittings from Villeroy & Boch’s Memento, Architectura and O.novo collections. The design emphasis here was on relaxation, answering a brief to be residential in feel and scale, so that guests feel at ease the moment their suitcases are out of their hands.

Tradition and high quality materials

Throughout the hotel’s public and private spaces, unique art and antiques hand-picked by Goddard Littlefair give the interiors sense of heritage and character, whilst traditional, high-quality materials such as linen, leather, wood and velvet express comfort and luxury. There are also nods to the city’s rich history throughout the hotel, including antique style cartography hanging on the walls, which maps out York’s bygone era as a Viking and Roman capital.

 

Our overall ambition was to breathe life back into every artery of the hotel’s interior,’ Goddard LIttlefair Director and Co-founder Jo Littlefair explained, ‘giving a nod to tradition and heritage, but also creating a tremendously warm, light and welcoming contemporary environment for guests. We were briefed to reinstate the hotel’s essential character and to pay respect to its original architecture, whilst at the same time ensuring a feeling of comfort, restfulness, so that The Principal York was once gain a true destination hotel.

Hotel industry awards and acclaim

The design concept has been met with acclaim with awards including the Gold Award for Hospitality Interior Design at the London Design Award 2016, as well as both Hotel of the Year and Conference Venue of the Year at the Visit York Tourism Awards. It was also shortlisted twice for the refurbishment of its public spaces at the European Hotel Design Awards (EHDAs).