Staff Seminar Series - Lyanne Holcombe Seminar

The opening of the Regent Palace Hotel marked a transformation for gender specific spaces in the West End of London. A point when new luxury hotels came to update interior schemes that were stylistically driven by the democratization of leisured spaces. Between 1915 and 1935, much emphasis was applied to the style and identity of the hotels public rooms. British modernity and the imperialist facades of Regent Street, the quadrant and Piccadilly contrasted to these new stylized interiors. Owned by the catering firm J. Lyons and Co, the interior design in this new luxury hotel represented the urban environment, facades and layouts in producing luxury ‘styled’ indoor space. By examining the employment of the stage set, lighting designer, Oliver P. Bernard, this paper identifies how the modernizing forces of the applied arts, allowed for the emergence of new materials to form through styling and interior design as a profession.