Coordinates: 51°30′20.16″N 0°9′1.0794″W / 51.5056°N 0.150299833°W / 51.5056; -0.150299833
| The Hilton, Park Lane | |
|---|---|
| Location | London, United Kingdom |
| Opening date | 1963 |
| Architect | William B. Tabler |
| Management | Hilton Hotels |
| Rooms | 453 |
| Suites | 56 |
| Floors | 28 |
| Website | Official Site |
The London Hilton on Park Lane is a hotel situated on Park Lane, overlooking Hyde Park in the exclusive Mayfair district of London. It is 101 metres (331 ft) tall, has 28 storeys and 453 rooms including 56 suites. It was completed in 1963 and was designed by William B. Tabler Architects. It is a concrete framed building, and it is regarded by some as an insensitive intrusion on the park. There are over 20 Hilton hotels in London including the Waldorf Hilton, Hilton London Paddington and the Hilton London Docklands Riverside.
On 24 August 1967, The Beatles met Maharishi Mahesh Yogi at the Hilton and subsequently went to Uttar Pradesh with him in order to meditate.
On 5 September 1975, the London Hilton was the target of an IRA bomb which killed two people and injured 63 others.
Queen Elizabeth II, whose garden in Buckingham Palace is overlooked by the hotel, opposed its construction and has made a point of never attending a function staged in the hotel. Regardless, her sister and other members of the Royal Family visit the property regularly.
A fire broke out in the hotel on 1 July 2011. There were no fatalities or injuries, and damage was limited to a few of the lower floors.
During the London 2012 Olympic Games the London Hilton on Park Lane accommodated members of the Olympic Family including Games officials and the International Olympic Committee. In order to guarantee security for these delegates temporary structures such as tents, fences and HVM (Hostile Vehicle Mitigation) measures were installed prior to the Games and the hotel was on lock-down for the duration of their stay.
The London Hilton on Park Lane was awarded:
- "Best Business Hotel in the UK 2011" by UK Business Traveller Magazine.
- "Best Hotel in Europe 2010" by German Business Traveller Magazine.
- "England's leading business hotel 2009" by World Travel Awards Europe.
Famous quotes containing the words london, hilton, park and/or lane:
“Unreal city,
Under the brown fog of a winter dawn,
A crowd flowed over London Bridge, so many,
I had not thought death had undone so many.”
—T.S. (Thomas Stearns)
“The acorn’s not yet
Fallen from the tree
That’s to grow the wood,
That’s to make the cradle,
That’s to rock the bairn,
That’s to grow a man,
That’s to lay me.”
—Unknown. The Cauld Lad of Hilton or, The Wandering Spectre (l. 2–8)
“Is a park any better than a coal mine? What’s a mountain got that a slag pile hasn’t? What would you rather have in your garden—an almond tree or an oil well?”
—Jean Giraudoux (1882–1944)
“Life is a thin narrowness of taken-for-granted, a plank over a canyon in a fog. There is something under our feet, the taken-for-granted. A table is a table, food is food, we are we—because we don’t question these things. And science is the enemy because it is the questioner. Faith saves our souls alive by giving us a universe of the taken-for-granted.”
—Rose Wilder Lane (1886–1968)