Even the cheap rooms cost £1,400 a night at London’s bling-heavy hangout for high net worth individuals. From mega-basement spa to gaudy rooftop bar, our writer takes a tour
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umours have long swirled about what lies beneath the great 1960s fortress of the former US embassy on Grosvenor Square. There have been lurid fables of cold war bunkers, secret service shooting ranges, CIA interrogation chambers and even escape tunnels to Hyde Park. But none of these fictional fantasies quite compare to the underground lair that has now been excavated below the imposing block, in its new incarnation as one of the fanciest hotels in London.
Owned by the royal family of Qatar, and operated by an offshore company registered in the British Virgin Islands, belonging to one of Hong Kong’s wealthiest dynasties, this former outpost of US imperialism has become a gilded temple to the new global order. Reborn as the Chancery Rosewood, it is a beacon of luxury designed to attract the cream of the world’s ultra-high net worth individuals, so it is only fitting that it should boast the mega-basement to end all mega-basements.
Descending a grand ceremonial staircase, you find yourself in a colossal marble-lined antechamber, a four-storey volume dripping with chandeliers and veneers, reflected in a mirror-polished black ceiling. It feels like the entrance to Kim Il Sung’s mausoleum, but it is the prelude to a gigantic ballroom (serviced by its own car elevator) which sits atop a subterranean spa complex, with swimming pool, saunas and therapy rooms, dug 20 metres below the ground. Long off-limits to the public, access to the building is now limited only by the size of your chequebook. The entry-level “junior suites” start at £1,400 per night.
