Oscar Wilde would have approved
If you ever find yourself in London’s Covent Garden, we highly recommend popping into the NoMad Hotel for a drink or something to eat. We think you’ll be swept away by the beauty of the place – we still are every time we visit.
Adjacent to the Royal Opera House, and built in 1880, NoMad takes residence inside the historic, grade II-listed building famously known as The Bow Street Magistrates’ Court and Police Station.
In 1895, playwright, poet and author Oscar Wilde was detained overnight in the cells at Bow Street and also was on trial here.
Emily Pankhurst was also amongst the defendants who once stood trial there.
In 1968, often considered London’s most notorious gangsters, The Kray Twins appear at Bow Street Magistrates Court charged with two counts of murder.
More recently, the building has been transformed by the Sydell Group, which has already created extraordinary hotels in Los Angeles, Las Vegas and New York. The Group’s concept for hotels is “a great home layered with stories and animated by the collective spirit of its inhabitants”.
The Daily Telegraph recently described the London hotel – Sydell’s first in Europe – as “a dramatic, decadent landscape that makes an immediately impressive landscape, loosely imagined as the domain of a very sophisticated art collector”. It has therefore been a privilege for 1718 to have been extensively involved in the hotel’s restoration. Working for long spells under lockdown restrictions, we restored and repolished wardrobes in 90 bedrooms. We also restored vintage mini-bars, bathroom fittings, towel units and antique trays, and created and fitted new bases and marble tops to tables.
We made several items of new furniture for the NoMad too, including this stunning sofa situated at the entrance to the lift. Created with oak feet and antique brass studs, we finished it in plush velvet fabric. Happily, our work with the hotel continues – we’re making monthly visits to carry out smaller pieces of restoration, ensuring that the guests continue enjoy this stunning location at its very best.
“LIFE IS NOT COMPLEX.
WE ARE COMPLEX. LIFE IS SIMPLE, AND THE SIMPLE THING IS THE RIGHT THING.”
– OSCAR WILDE
