Honoring history
A TALE OF TWO CITIES | London's Brown's Hotel and Dublin's Merrion both present cherished traditions
This is a tale of two cities -- London and Dublin -- and two hotels that are both unique in their own way, but curiously sharing a similar sensibility: a very conscious desire to honor their historic roots, but anxious to remain relevant in the 21st century.
AIRLINES: A number of major international carriers including American, United, British Airways, Lufthansa and Virgin Atlantic offer daily non-stop service between Chicago O'Hare and London's Heathrow Airport. American Airlines and Aer Lingus offer daily flights between Chicago and Dublin Airport.
CABS & TRAINS: Given the close proximity of the Dublin Airport to the central city, cabs are relatively reasonable, running approximately $30 one-way from the airport to central Dublin. London cabs are expensive -- a one-way trip from Heathrow to Central London can easily run $125. The best, and fastest, way to go: Heathrow Express (or Gatwick Express, if your flight goes into Gatwick Airport). A round-trip ticket will run only $55 (about $30 one-way) -- and trains run every 15 minutes from early morning until late evening from the easily accessible station inside Heathrow Airport to Paddington Station. The trip is a 15-minute, fast-train express. From Paddington, the cab fare to Brown's Hotel will run about $15.
HOTEL RATES: Merrion, Upper Merrion Street, Dublin 2, Ireland. Phone: +353-1-603-0660. Rates range from $300 (Garden Standard Room, special online rate) to $1,425 (Main House Junior Suite) www.merrionhotel.com. Brown's Hotel, Albemarle Street, Mayfair, London W1S4BP, England. Phone: +44(0)20-7493-6020. Rates range from $400 (Standard Queen Double, online special rate) to $1,680 (Junior Suite) www.brownshotel.com.
As the cab pulled up at Brown's Hotel, quite late on a recent summer night, it almost seemed we were arriving at a private house, not at the oldest continuously-operating hotel in London. Yet, despite the relatively unassuming entryway -- located directly at curbside on Albemarle Street in the heart of Mayfair -- one step inside and you quickly sense you are entering an establishment that has witnessed some key moments in British history.
Shortly after crossing the threshold and being cheerily greeted by a top-hat wearing doorman, you walk past both the Albemarle restaurant and the hotel's wood-paneled English Tea Room -- favorites of everyone from Winston Churchill to Queen Victoria to mystery author Agatha Christie.
While recently renamed the Albemarle, the hotel's dining room gained its fame as the Grill at Brown's, a popular lunch spot for Churchill during World War II -- and the first official restaurant established within a hotel, back in the late 1880s.
Sir Winston always sat at the same table near the restaurant's impressive fireplace -- likely due to its easy access to an elevator that could quickly whisk the wartime prime minister to the hotel's bomb shelter, a key issue during the London Blitz.
As for the tea room, Brown's new owner Rocco Forte -- of the legendary European hotel family -- and his entire staff are proud of that room's history as well. Not only did Queen Victoria occasionally take tea at Brown's, but Christie actually spent many afternoons tucked away at a corner settee -- reportedly giving her inspiration for her At Bertram's Hotel crime novel.
Yet, past these two very traditional-looking rooms, the mood of Brown's carefully shifts to an updated, contemporary mood, very visible as you approach the hotel's central reception area -- where we were happily greeted by night manager Emma Hutchins, a former Buffalo Grove resident and one of 12 different nationalities found at Brown's -- and that's just in the front office.
A contemporary flair continues, in the totally chic Donovan's bar. While Donovan's pays homage to the hotel's past with the historic stained glass window mounted behind the bar, the overall essence of the gray and black upscale cocktail lounge is very modern. Featured are a superb collection of black-and-white photographs by legendary British photographer Terence Donovan -- a close friend of Forte.
Brown's became London's first hotel in 1837, when the poet Lord Byron's butler James Brown and his wife (who was Lady Byron's maid) struck out on their own and acquired several Mayfair houses to create the hotel.
Before that time, transient visitors to London either stayed in boarding houses, rooms above taverns or as guests in private homes -- depending on one's economic station and place in society.
As the decades rolled by, Brown's became known as a home-away-from home to the wealthy and privileged. Members of various European royal families were long-term guests, including exiled monarchs from France, Greece, Belgium and Ethiopia.
Both U.S. presidents named Roosevelt honeymooned at Brown's -- Theodore in 1886, and his Democrat cousin Franklin in 1905.
Today the large second floor suite occupied by both Roosevelts often is used for a wide variety of functions -- including, of course, wedding receptions.
In 1876, Alexander Graham Bell checked into Brown's during his visit to London to promote his invention of the telephone to the British government.
That led to Bell making the first phone call in Britain -- using a device set up in Brown's, connecting to the nearby home of hotel owner James Ford.
Today, Brown's honors that achievement with the Alexander Graham Bell Suite -- a small ground floor meeting room aptly decorated with drawings and photos of virtually every known telephone device used from Bell's time to the present cellular era.
When hotel representative Nina Colls was asked if the antique phone on the wall in the Bell suite was the one used for that famous first ring-up, she winked and said, ''I could tell you, 'Yes,' but I'd be stretching the truth.
''However it is a device that is from that period.''
Rudyard Kipling was a constant presence at Brown's from the early 1890s to the mid-1930s. Today the elegantly rustic Kipling Suite stands as a permanent testament to the fact that among the books the famous author penned at Brown's was The Jungle Book.
Yet, while Brown's is chock-full of such lovely little historical touches, it has very nicely made the leap to 2008.
The Albemarle serves outstanding contemporary British cooking. The 117 rooms and suites have been updated with understated modern flair in softly-muted colors by Forte's sister, Olga Polizzi.
The lower level spa is a quiet oasis with all the expected range of spa treatments (including a full menu of massages, hydrotherapy, facials and wraps) guests have come to expect from five star establishments.
While the current management of Brown's has worked hard to update itself, even modern twists recall traditional memories.
To mark this year's centennial of Ian Fleming's birth, Donovan's bar at Brown's is offering four drinks during 2008 to toast the James Bond creator. Among the ''007'' selections are the Icebreaker cocktail, Casino Royale and the Modern Vesper Martini and another martini named Strictly Bond -- both, naturally, ''strictly shaken,'' and never stirred.
Just as one of Brown's Hotel's allures is its central London location -- only steps to Piccadilly or Regent Street or Buckingham Palace -- the same can be said for Dublin's historic Merrion.
The big difference: One should never really make too many comparisons between the Irish capital and it's English counterpart.
After all, central Dublin is a far easier street to explore on foot than is London -- only in the sense that one is dealing with far more manageable distances. (Isn't that far nicer than saying ''smaller''?)
Yet it is a treat that Dublin's wonderful St. Stephen's Green park is but a two-block walk away. Even closer is the terrific Italian eatery the Unicorn (popular with the political crowd that hangs out in the nearby government buildings).
Only 10 minutes away is Trinity College (and its library housing the famous Book of Kells).
And if you're looking for a good place for a Sunday dinner (often a challenge in Dublin, where many restaurants close on the Christian sabbath) -- check out either the Town Bar & Grill (21 Kildare Street), with it's wide range of wines; or Shanahan's on St. Stephen's Green (think Chicago's Gibson's -- but quieter and with fewer tables).
But, I digress here. Back to the things that the Merrion Hotel share's with Brown's. While the Irish Georgian town houses that were combined to create the Merrion likely predate the original structures of Brown's, they were turned into a full-time hotel operation much more recently. It was in October, 1997 that the Merrion opened its doors -- having merged four magnificent examples of the finest 18th Century Dublin terrace houses to create the Main House of the hotel.
Built behind the Irish Georgian ''face'' of the Merrion is the hotel's garden wing -- an intriguing marriage of 18th and late-20th Century architectural styles.
The original four structures were built in the 1760s Charles Stanley, Lord Monck. The most important of the four was the house standing at No. 24 Upper Merrion Street. Leased by Lord Monck to Garrett Wellesley, Earl of Mornington, it today is famous as the birthplace of the British military hero Arthur Wellesley, the first Duke of Wellington -- known to history as ''The Iron Duke.''
While the Merrion is comfortably decorated and offerings all the spa and hotel amenities (including a terrific indoor pool that was barely used during our visit) -- one must take note of the hotel's amazing art collection.
Said to be one of the finest private collections in Ireland, owners Lochlann and Brenda Quinn have generously hung their paintings in public view throughout the hotel's hallways, public rooms and in various other locations. The collection includes work by more than 40 prominent Irish artists, plus other 18th and 19th European painters of note.