Inside the Chelsea Townhouse, a New London Hotel That Feels Like Stepping Into a Henry James Novel | Vogue

"Mere moments from Sloane Square and the King’s Road, this carefully curated new hotel channels the history, culture, and style of SW3 across three Victorian townhouses linked by hidden corridors and secret passageways. Once The Draycott—a well-worn yet beloved institution known for homemade shortbread and a leatherbound Wodehouse collection—it now feels less like checking into a hotel and more like visiting a well-heeled friend with a green thumb, a collector’s eye, and a top-notch wine cellar. Snug attic rooms under the eaves are the sort of place you can imagine writing a novel with a Conway Stewart pen, fortified by cups of Earl Grey and toast brought up on a sterling silver tray, while ground-floor suites give out onto Cadogan Gardens, a park so beautiful you can picture Henry James characters taking the air on the lawn. A classic, refined, botanical aesthetic runs throughout—Berkshire landscapes, portraits of Lady Astor, watercolor illustrations of crocuses and hyacinths, and rooms filled with ferns in a nod to Victorian pteridomania—while the dust ruffles, tasseled curtains, and chintzy wallpaper of The Draycott have been cleared away to foreground marble fireplaces, intricate cornices, and antique chandeliers that refract the light through generous sash windows and French doors. In lieu of a restaurant, meals arrive in the downstairs salon via a delightfully retro dumb waiter, and you’re free to enjoy crab toast or pear tart anywhere, heightening the upscale house-party vibe; in summer, lunch beneath Cadogan Gardens’ London planes and stroll between its 300-year-old mulberry trees with a gin and tonic in hand, and in winter, a postprandial digestif by the crackling log fire in the library—lined with books by Walter Scott and Evelyn Waugh—feels hard to beat. Outside the Queen Anne–style façade, the only noise is birdsong and occasional laughter from students at nearby Hill House School, yet you’re right around the corner from Sloane Square and the King’s Road; rooms are individually named after botanists and gardeners such as Humphry Repton and William Salisbury, and the staff—walking Zagat guides—will steer you to the best of SW3 and beyond. It’s the sort of hotel destined to become a place people return to over and over again; get in now while you still can." - Hayley Maitland