The narrow streets that surround Gran Hotel Inglés are steeped in history, lined with tapas bars, best-in-class restaurants and quirky shopping boutiques. True to its stalwart reputation, the grand old property has seen a few things in its time.
Originally opened in 1853 as a café in the characterful Barrio de las Letras area, the property attracted writers, artists and the aristocracy to gather in Madrid’s beating heart, until it was eventually converted into a hotel – in fact, it was the first hotel in the city to have its own restaurant in 1886.
A lot has changed over the past 135 years, but the Gran Hotel Inglés has remained a constant figure – albeit an ever-evolving one. Today the boutique hotel has been lovingly restored and reborn as one of the finest properties in the Spanish capital.
With only 48 rooms and suites, designed with Art Deco features, it combines contemporary urban sophistication, in one of Europe’s most exciting cities, with the glamour of bygone times. Designed by the Rockwell Group, the regeneration centred around bringing back elegance and installing innovation to the city’s oldest hotel by weaving original imagery and salvaged historic items into its design.
The lobby ceiling has statement circular chandeliers and, inspired by a classic English manor, a central lobby bar is surrounded by a round cocktail lounge intended as a gathering spot for locals as much as for international visitors. Owners, Carmen Cordón and Ignacio Jiménez kept the promise made by the hotel’s original owner, Don Agustín Ibarra, to “spare no sacrifice when it comes to the furniture or to the many modern technologies that can be used in your new home.”
Gran Hotel Inglés enables its guests to live Madrid’s history in the present day, while effortlessly enjoying all the contemporary delights of this energetic city.