HOW THE WARTIME LAIR USED BY PRIME MINISTERS AND SPIES BECAME LONDON’S GRANDEST NEW HOMES
The OWO, London
With The OWO, which is set to open in late 2022, the luxury hotel chain has secured one of London’s most prestigious, landmark addresses to launch Raffles’ first branded residences in Europe.
Opposite Horse Guards on Whitehall, metres away from 10 Downing Street, the imposing, white-stone behemoth that is the Old War Office building is undergoing transformation into a new super-prime 750,000 sq ft development.
Where once 1,100 offices stood along 2.5 miles of corridors, there will be 85 residences, no two of which are the same, along with a 120-key Raffles London hotel, and 11 restaurants and bars. Straddling four floors, amenities will include a sumptuous spa and swimming pool, and a 9,000 sq ft underground ballroom for weddings and the sort of events likely to involve visiting dignitaries. “And it’s all wrapped up in a Grade II* listed building that was built in 1906 and, when restored, will be as palatial inside as it is outside,” says Charlie Walsh, head of sales at The OWO Residences.
Walsh describes The OWO as “a real legacy piece” for its developers, the billionaire Hinduja family, and there is a sense of history at every turn. Sir Winston Churchill worked in these oak-panelled rooms when he was secretary of state for war from 1919-1921. John Profumo and Lord Kitchener are among the famous names to grace its corridors, and the writer Ian Fleming found inspiration for James Bond while working here for Britain’s Naval Intelligence Division. Indeed, Fleming’s fictitious hero can be seen gazing across the Old War Office’s turrets from an adjacent rooftop in the final scene of Skyfall – and the building’s façade appears as MI6’s HQ in five earlier Bond films.
Winston Churchill as Secretary of State, 1919
For EPR Architects, who worked with various high-profile visionaries on the project, including hotel architect Thierry Despont (famous for redesigning the Ritz in Paris), interior designers 1508 London for the residences, Goddard Littlefair in the spa, and garden landscaper Marcus Barnett, the building’s grandeur and location lent itself perfectly to reinvention as a luxury hotel and residences.
“It was obvious the hotel would work well in the part of the building that faces Whitehall, where you have most activity, public access and the ability to create lively frontages at street level,” comments Scott Paton, director at EPR Architects. “Then the residences sit in the quieter, more private part of the building at the rear.”
The challenge in a project of such prestige is how to marry the two so they complement each other rather than feel like standalone offerings, but also afford the residences the privacy and security their buyers will expect.
Paton refers to the dual aspect of most of the apartments, which give views over the private courtyard from some windows and over the street, or the quadrangle, from others. “These are truly impressive apartments and you can enjoy both private and public spaces in your own demise,” he says.
Residents also have the choice of the building’s majestic main entrance - also used by the hotel – where they will be greeted by the sight of the original, triple-height sweeping alabaster staircase, “like something from a Viennese opera house,” comments Sebastien Bazin, CEO Accor. Or they can use a dedicated residents’ entrance from within the Courtyard, or the spies entrance at the rear of the building, once the discreet entry point for the secret intelligence services.
The building is overflowing with special features, says Paton – not least the four octagonal turrets, two of which will become a hotel suite and rooftop bar facing Whitehall, and two towards the Thames becoming part of two corner residences for private ownership. The huge state rooms include a row along the entire front facade that can interconnect as one majestic six-bedroom royal suite. “Big global decisions were once made in these spaces, and there will undoubtedly be new stories about the future guests who will stay here,” says Paton.
There are reminders throughout of the important figures that once stood in these rooms and the key decisions they made there. From the War Council Suite, you have clear views to the Houses of Parliament. “That’s where pivotal meetings were held to discuss world events,” Paton adds.
The OWO residence turret
Among the quirkier spaces he has designed to become integral parts of the apartments are the former messenger rooms which have been reimagined as private studies, an old officers’ mess, “which needed special listed building approval all of its own,” and all those miles of nine foot-wide corridors, each with distinct and perfectly preserved mosaic borders.
There will be no shortage of features to make anyone who enters The OWO stare in wonder. But a residential project like this, with a prestigious brand at its helm, “is as much about the bits you don’t see – the things that seamlessly work for guests or residents,” says Paton. “Below ground, along those big corridors, will be housekeeping and room service that means those staying in the building get everything they want, within reason. The hotel and residences complement each other. You can have private dining or a party in your residence, served directly by the hotel or any one of the 11 restaurants and bars. That on-demand element is always there, and Raffles understand that perfectly as it’s what they do.”
Apartment entrance hall, The OWO Residences
The Raffles brand, says Paton, is all about “quality and integrity”. And it will resonate with a wide range of buyers of all ages, he thinks. “Wealth isn’t just inherited any more. There is so much new wealth, and these buyers are looking beyond the more established areas of London to an area like this – which is surprisingly quiet, surrounded by the seat of political power and high security - and to properties that are more understated than flashy.”
Buyers in a scheme such as The OWO need to connect with both the brand and the building. “We need to make sure there is a story to be told,” says Paton. Well there is certainly no shortage of stories from The OWO’s past – and doubtless many more to be written about its future.