If there's an area of London that embodies the fantasy of the British capital at its best, it's undoubtedly Mayfair. The way in which ornate, Georgian, Regency-style, and Victorian buildings, sprawling parks, and leafy private gardens alternate with the dazzling shopfronts of fashion maisons, exclusive restaurants, and world-class galleries, is a sight to behold.
That's why, when I was invited to spend a night at Montcalm Mayfair, a newly reinvented, five-star hotel part of the Marriott group's design, craft, and storytelling-led Autograph Collection, I immediately chased the opportunity to experience what holidaying in Mayfair feels like for myself.
When I reach its entrance at 2 Wallenberg Place, a stone's throw from Marble Arch and the northeast corner of Hyde Park, on a late-September Friday afternoon, leaves from the line of planes that encircle it blow past my feet as the weather turns stormy.
Turns out, there couldn't have been a better introduction to the hotel's theme, which, gathering inspirations from long-gone eras, British heritage, and the outdoors, makes it one of the most beautifully executed design hotels in London.
A Verdant Oasis for British Craft
The reception desk at Montcalm Mayfair, complete with a carved plaster commission by Petra Börner.
"Montcalm Mayfair was truly a labor of love," Louise East, the founding designer of London-based practice Studio Est, tells me enthusiastically when we meet over espressos at its all-day food and drink destination, Lilli's bar, the morning after my overnight stay at the property.
To mold it into shape, she leaned into the core pillars of the brief. "The first one was 'icon', which stands for Marble Arch, a legendary London landmark whose silhouette is gently hinted at by the fan-shaped motif appearing on some of the furniture throughout," Louise says, pointing to the back of the plushly upholstered, wood and brass burnt orange stools near the bar.
The second is 'flora', a direct reference in The Mark of the Garden, the delicate yet expansive botanical mural completed by Will Foster Studios for Montcalm Mayfair, and now floating above the residents' heads in the same area. It's a concept that saw East subtly echo nature's soothing nuances through tactile surfaces and materials, earthy, muted palettes, and a more obvious floral element across curated artworks, one-off installations. And, of course, the careful insertion of fabrics from British Arts and Crafts' pioneer William Morris.
Next came 'refined Palladianism', which the designer drew from to achieve a minimalist reinterpretation of the Georgian, garden-inspired English style, informed, in turn, by the neoclassical projects of 16th-century Venetian architect Andrea Palladio.
Principles of symmetry, proportion, and balance guided her in reinventing the ground-level communal rooms as an open plan, physically removing all pre-existing barriers to "let natural light flow", and incorporating statement columns and wall paneling to help create a sense of journey for travelers moving in the space.
Finally, Montcalm Mayfair had to feel "timeless and residential" — a base for globetrotters to come back to after a long day "to feel calm, inspired, and relaxed," East adds, as if spending time in the garden outside your house.
Staying at Montcalm Mayfair
This Valérie Novello piece serves as the heart of this Montcalm Mayfair lounge.
Checking into Montcalm Mayfair on a Friday night, I find out, is the quickest way to become aware of how much what's around you can influence — or, in my case, improve — your mood at a given moment.
Before entering the building, I am frazzled, having just poured the last remaining brain cells into wrapping up my work tasks on time before disconnecting for a while. A challenge I only partially fulfill, considering I get to the hotel an hour later than I originally intended to, but maybe, I tell myself as I proceed to take in the warmth of the stay's layeredly decorated hallways, the initial chaos is to my benefit.
In stark contrast with the gelid, impersonal atmosphere of many corporate, as well as touristic, London hotels, Montcalm Mayfair keeps a human touch — or "the mark of the hand," as East likes to describe it — at its heart.
"Ever heard of a ceramicist called Freya Bramble-Carter?", she asks me while looking at a large, heavily textured vase that sits on the wooden shelving behind my back. "I love her work; she makes these large, Dalí-esque vases and pots. Recently, she went to Japan for a workshop: that's basically her take on Japanese ceramic techniques."
Throughout the hotel's lobby floor, which reunites the bar and breakfast area, Lilli by Akira Back — the namesake Korean-American chef's London eatery — a private dining room, and access to the most sumptuous of its 150 rooms, including the signature Botanical Suite, almost entirely without the need of walking up any stairs, creativity manifests in the most disparate forms.
Just behind the reception, a humongous, carved plaster artwork by Swedish-born, London-based multidisciplinary artist Petra Börner, commissioned by East and art consultancy and creative experience studio Culture A's founding managing director, Anne Trouillet Rogers, and developed with the support of Helen Johannessen Ceramics and Cockpit Studios, hints at the botany leitmotif running through Montcalm Mayfair's DNA.
"It's an abstract piece depicting birds and flowers, but again, this was done very subtly," Studio Est's founder tells me of the nearly 80-kilogram installation. Rather than being in your face, "the nod to the theme just quietly sits there, with guests noticing it, but mostly subconsciously".
Sleeping at Montcalm Mayfair ahead of my yearly Frieze Week pilgrimage feels like the perfect way into the leading art fair's frenzy. Börner's carving isn't the sole masterpiece to have been brought inside the hotel by Culture A. Instead, collaborating with East on a selection of artworks that, the designer explains, matched the mood of the sojourn and its palette, Trouillet Rogers sourced more than 800 pieces, between existing and newly commissioned ones, each feeding back into the nature-driven aesthetic of it.
Framed, as much as possible, with antique or recycled moldings, Montcalm Mayfair's captivating collection boasts contributions from the likes of Joan Miró, Camille Rousseau, Jake Messing, and Valerie Novello.
It also platforms those of artists selected through an open call from local fine art institutes, as well as having bedrooms decorated with 'sleep poems' written by two Creative Writing MFA students from Goldsmiths, complete with delicate illustrations by Börner.
Lilli by Akira Back — British Cuisine, Reframed
A glimpse inside the atmospheric Lilli by Akira Back, Montcalm Mayfair's Asian-infused restaurant.
Still, much of the hotel's charm lies in how its bucolic canvases and sculptural view of contemporary interior design sinuously blend into one. Or so we realize when my partner and I sit down for dinner at one of the sage green, velvety banquettes of in-house restaurant Lilli by Akira Back and, almost instinctually, look up.
Vaguely reminiscent of one of New York's plush, noir, and seductive jazz clubs, with a lowered ceiling that makes you feel as if you're being hugged, the dining room radiates a soft glow across shimmering cast glass sconces and mushroom-shaped, glazed ceramic and paper table lamps. But it's the central chandelier that, together with chef Back's lusciously delicious, refined Korean-British fusion, makes dining here a non-negotiable must.
Inspired by a Lion's Mane bud, "it may look simple, but it was an absolute nightmare to craft," Studio Est's Louise East laughs. Composed of multiple, concentric, rounded rectangles, "the chandelier mounts 180 individually lit shades, kept together by a specially formed frame," she recounts, adding that achieving that result was "absolute nuts."
The food and drinks are equally researched. The earthiness of oyster mushrooms meets melt-in-your-mouth flesh and a slightly nostalgic, comforting sweetness in the tiger shrimp dynamite starter, while the beetroot-cured Loch Duart salmon, served sprinkled in picked shimeji mushrooms, samphire, rice cracker, and yuzu gel, makes an addictive savory treat for those who, like me, can't get enough of this type of fish.
The beautifully assembled, slow cooked halibut with courgette, crushed potato, and Banyuls' vinaigrette, meanwhile, rings closer to home flavor-wise, while retaining Back's layered signature style.
In the cocktails department, the Neroli sour revives a taste of summer with its refreshing, palate-cleansing kumquat and lime, whereas with its crumbly outside and melty heart, the raspberry cream and vanilla ice cream-filled Baked Alaska dessert marks the ultimate end to culinary indulgence. Even then, leaving your table to head back to your room will take some convincing, as the chit-chat and the alternative music in the background lull you into staying just a little bit longer.
An Exercise in Grounding
A render of Montcalm Mayfair's Botanical Suite, a lavish pied-à-terre complete with private access.
Luckily, the same grounding decor that distinguishes Montcalm Mayfair throughout — think fully bespoke, sensory furnishings mix-matched with antique finds to create a home-like design, intricate fabrics, rich marble touches, and classical hints obtained through tiles — can be found inside its rooms and suites, too.
Imagined by Studio Mica, the interior practice behind all guest bedrooms, with architectural volumes remodeled, like the rest of the renovation, by Holland Harvey, these expand the tranquil essence of the stay into the private realm.
Warm, soft-edged woods define the sleeping area, enriched by occasional brass and glass details, vegetation-inspired tufted rugs, and, needless to say, original art. Hidden cues to Montcalm Mayfair's overall concept can be spotted in the bespoke wallpaper wardrobes, bearing poetry lines, as well as in the personalized welcome amenities that come with each room, where guests are pampered with Frette bed linens and Penhalingon's bathroom kits.
To root the stay makeover in its building's history and that of Marble Arch itself, Studio Mica incorporated references to remarkable figures from the 18th and 19th centuries.
These include British social reformer and patron of the arts Elizabeth Montague, violin virtuoso George Bridgetower, legendary Australian opera singer Dame Nellie Melba, educator and florist Constance Spry, and the Marquis of Montcalm. Pioneers whose daring spirit lives on in every corner of the hotel, starting from the newly unveiled Library, an all-day deli and café open exclusively to suite residents, inspired by the salon atmosphere of Montague's Blue Stockings Society.
YĀTRĀ Signature Spa — A Journey Through Senses
It isn't a coincidence that both my conversation with Louise East and my stay at Montcalm Mayfair conclude with a reinvigorating visit to its YĀTRĀ Signature Spa, offering a range of Ayurvedic Mauli treatments besides hosting heat and sauna experiences, among others, which the designer transformed into an entrancing, hypnotic journey through the senses.
Informed by the client's African-Indian heritage, this dimly lit, smokily scent-scaped space is brought to life by the compelling textile creations of artist Belén Senra's Spain-based Ranran Studio, and is again dotted with crafty ceramics, eye-catching fabrics, and one-off homewares.
Towering woven amphoras in rattan act as wayfinders, guiding guests to the discovery of its rooms, while statement sculptures carved from decaying wood conjure the ultimate goal of every Montcalm Mayfair sojourn: to encourage us to reconnect with the earth and ourselves through suggestive interiors, gastronomy, and art.
"I wanted every detail to feel memorable for guests," East confesses. That, for her, is the key to successful hospitality — ensuring that "they all have something they remember about the hotel, something that keeps them coming back."
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