The Imperial, Bloomsbury

The Imperial sits on Russell Square in Bloomsbury, on a site that has held a hotel since 1904, when Charles Fitzroy Doll designed an ornate Victorian building of turrets and terracotta that was replaced by the current modernist structure in the 1960s. Owned and run by Imperial London Hotels, the 357-room property emerged from a decade-long refurbishment that restored the concrete facade and its geometric windows rather than replacing them, and reworked the interiors around the building's own 1960s character with mid-century furniture, terrazzo, wood paneling and sculptural lighting. Cube Design led the architecture, with interiors by Trevillion Interiors and Keane Brands and more than 500 original prints commissioned from Adam Ellis Studio Art House. A new rooftop level holds Arcus, a bar and restaurant with near 360-degree views across London and the only rooftop venue in Bloomsbury, while the ground floor carries the Edit Bar and Lounge and Bancone Bloomsbury, the pasta restaurant's first location inside a hotel.