The Imperial Bloomsbury has reopened at 61 to 66 Russell Square, behind the square's main thoroughfare in central London, after a full reworking of its 357 rooms. The hotel first opened in 1905 in a building designed by Charles Fitzroy Doll, and its concrete facade has been retained through the latest renovation.
Cube Design led the architecture and restored many of the building's original features rather than replacing them. Interiors are new work by Trevillion Interiors and Keane Brands, who describe the project as a tribute to Bloomsbury's creative history rather than a straight restoration of any single period.
Keane Brands said it deliberately avoided recreating a period interior. Instead the team treated the building's history as layers: its Edwardian, neo-Gothic origins and its later modernist additions, using both as reference points rather than a script to follow room by room.
How the design treats a concrete building
The existing concrete and geometric forms became what the designers call a Brutalist canvas, softened with midcentury furniture, warm textures, seasonal color and integrated lighting. Architectural geometry recurs in patterns and detailing, while curated artwork ties individual rooms back to the neighborhood outside.
Keane Brands said the team worked to soften the concrete through contrast, adding natural timber, upholstery and textured fabrics throughout the public spaces and guest floors. Curved furniture and organic forms counter the facade's strong geometry, with planting and layered golden lighting used to bring warmth into rooms that could otherwise read as austere.
One room, called The Hideaway, has its own small outdoor terrace with seating and a bathtub built beneath a pavilion, a departure from a standard hotel layout. Access to some of the hotel's shared spaces is reserved for guests booked into five premium categories: City, Horizon, Hideaway, Nest and Beacon.
What is on the tenth floor
The tenth floor holds Arcus, a bar with panoramic views across the London skyline, including the BT Tower. The cocktail list mixes original creations with classics, and the food menu is built around snacks rather than full meals, among them steak and lamb tacos.
The Bell Room and Terrace is a separate space for board games, all-day grazing or quieter conversation, named for five bells that have hung on its adjoining terrace since the hotel opened in 1905. Its name and fixtures predate the current renovation entirely.
The gym is described as considerably larger than the average hotel facility, fitted with Technogym machines, free weights and kettlebells, and it has its own outdoor terrace for guests to cool down after training. It suits light resistance work and bodyweight sessions rather than heavy lifting.
Why Bloomsbury is the setting
Bloomsbury has long been one of London's more studious neighborhoods, home at various points to Virginia Woolf, E.M. Forster, Charles Darwin, Charles Dickens and Bob Marley. Woolf and Forster belonged to the Bloomsbury Group, and the area's garden squares and historic architecture still carry that literary reputation today.
The hotel is within walking distance of the British Museum, reachable past Gordon Square's Momo's Garden Cafe and the Gothic detailing of Gower Street, and of Treadwell's, a bookshop on Store Street specializing in magic and witchcraft. Fortitude Bakehouse, tucked into a mews behind the hotel, offers a quieter stop for guests avoiding the museum crowds.
We have covered London's hospitality scene closely, including our recent look at Beyond the Velvet Ropes, our guide to the city's most exclusive private members' clubs, and the reopening of Hoshinoya Nara inside Japan's former Great Meiji Prison as a 48-suite hotel. The Imperial Bloomsbury adds a grande dame reopening to that same wider category of historic buildings given new hotel lives.
Our coverage of style has also looked at the robes and bed linen that hotels like this one favor, from the best robes for women to hotel-style bed sheets built for five-star comfort. Both point at the same tactile, textured register the Imperial's designers describe in its public rooms.
No opening rates, room prices or booking details have been disclosed, and the hotel has not stated when the renovation itself began or how long it ran. What is confirmed is that the property is open now, with all 357 rooms and both the Arcus bar and the Bell Room and Terrace operating.
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Images: (Image credit: Courtesy of Imperial); (Image credit: Imperial)
