Page 83 - StudyTravel Magazine August 2018 Issue

Grosvenor House

The ST Star Awards are being held in a new venue this year – Grosvenor House,
A JW Marriott Hotel in Park Lane, Mayfair. Bethan norris takes a look at the
fascinating history of this London landmark.

G every available ray of sunshine throughout
rosvenor House, A JW Marriott Hotel
in Mayfair is probably one of the most the day.
exclusive and luxurious hotels in London, The aptly named Great Room – venue
UK, with 420 rooms, 74 suites and two for the ST Star Awards themselves – is
restaurants located over eight floors. one of the largest ballrooms in Europe
The hotel was built in the 1920s on and was originally built as an ice skating
the site of Grosvenor House, the former rink where Queen Elizabeth II learnt to
London residence of the Dukes of ice skate! The room has a long history of
Westminster, and opened in 1929. It was hosting formal and significant events such
remarkable in its day for being one of the as Queen Charlotte’s annual Debutante
first hotels in the UK and Europe to have Ball, which was first started in the 1780s
a bathroom connected to every room and by George III as a celebration for his wife
running iced water on tap. The building Charlotte’s birthday. The Royal Caledonian
was designed as several separate blocks, Ball features plenty of Scottish dancing
each scientifically engineered to catch and kilt wearing and has taken place

24 | ST STAR AWARDS SupplemenT | AuGuST 2018