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The 5th Earl of Bedford commissioned Inigo Jones, the most important architect of the day, to create the first public square in the country at Covent Garden. Inigo was inspired by the Italian piazzas and designed the layout of the area and its surrounding houses, as well as St Paul’s Church.
With the area fallen into disrepute, the Duke of Bedford took it upon himself to knock down the ramshackle collection of sheds that constituted the then market and commissioned architect Charles Fowler to build the covered granite market building that stands proudly on the piazza today.
With playhouses at this famous Covent Garden address since 1732 both destroyed by fire, it was the third reincarnation designed by Edward Middleton Barry in the mid-1800s which has survived as the foundations of the theatre that we know today.Â
London newspaper, The Morning Post, commissioned a new building and appointed the famed Anglo-French architects Mewès & Davis to design it. The pioneering pair are famous for many buildings including The Ritz in London and in Paris and the Royal Automobile Club on Pall Mall.
Thanks to innovative architecture and a steel frame construction, the building was completed in only two years and quickly became known for its blend of Edwardian grandeur and splendid Parisian elegance.
Later that year the newspaper’s editorial and advertising staff moved into the building and the printing presses were installed in the basement, where the hotel’s swimming pool sits. There they remained for the next twenty years.
When The Morning Post was sold, the Inveresk Paper Company bought the building and it became home to a number of well-known illustrated magazines such as Illustrated London News and The Tatler.
In the years that ensued, extensive alterations were made to the property, which involved adding two extra floors, removing the original dome and changing the internal layout. During this time our building housed the Ministry of Defence, the Ministry of Works, Prudential Assurance Company, Lloyds Bank and a very popular London Brasserie known as the Aldwych Brasserie.
The final trading bell rings in the Flower Market at Covent Garden and the largest wholesale fruit, vegetable and flower market in the UK moves out of Covent Garden making room for a vibrant collection of shops, bars and restaurants. The market spirit remains with the Apple Market and its range of handmade crafts and goods, plus weekly antiques and collectables on Mondays.
With its Grade II listing, our building was eventually sold to private independent owners who undertook the project to create the One Aldwych Hotel which first opened its doors in 1998.
After a two-year closure for a major refurbishment, The Royal Opera House reopened with a stunning fresh look and state-of-the-art new technics available to the production teams.
One Aldwych underwent an extensive refurbishment with suites and bedrooms redesigned by renowned designer Robert Angell to give them an upscale residential feel – timelessly chic and filled with natural daylight. London design company Fabled Studio gave Indigo a bright, airy feel and reaffirmed The Lobby Bar as a true destination bar with interiors evoking the building’s Art Nouveau and Parisian touches, as well as its former life as the headquarters of the Morning Post newspaper. Ready for the hotel’s next chapter…
Independent in spirit and proud to be privately-owned, One Aldwych is one of the very few hotels that can truly say that we are independent. Learn more about how we like to do things differently…
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