The Landmark London

The Landmark London is a five-star hotel on Marylebone Road on the northern side of central London, England in the borough of London named the City of Westminster. It was originally opened by the Great Central Railway, under the title Hotel Great Central.

Early history

The hotel was originally one of London's Victorian era railway hotels, the Great Central Hotel. It was first proposed by Sir Edward Watkin of the Great Central Railway who envisaged Marylebone station, which the hotel was to serve, as the hub of an international railway which would run through a channel tunnel. Sir Edward's aspirations proved to be overambitious (not for the only time as he was behind the Watkins' Tower, which was a failed attempt to outdo the Eiffel Tower), and after the Great Central ran into financial difficulties the site of the hotel was sold to Sir John Blundell Maple of the furniture company Maples, who opened his hotel in 1899. Marylebone station is one of the smallest of the central London termini, but its hotel was among the grandest of the London railway hotels. It had a clock tower and was built around a large central courtyard. There were two main entrances, one on the northern side facing the station and the other on the southern side towards Marylebone Road. The architect was Colonel Sir Robert William Edis and the style was eclectic and opulent. The Ladies' Alpine Club rented rooms in the hotel and held its annual dinner there.

Central Hotel

Central Hotel may refer to:

Central Hotel (Glasgow)

The Grand Central Hotel, Glasgow (usually known by locals by its original name the Central Hotel), is a large 4-star hotel in the centre of Glasgow, Scotland.

The hotel forms the front of the Glasgow Central railway station on Gordon Street, directly adjoining onto the station concourse. It was one of Glasgow's most prestigious hotels in its heyday, hosting residents as famous as Frank Sinatra, Big Atanu and Winston Churchill.

It was originally designed by Robert Rowand Anderson, in 'Queen Anne style'; he also furnished the public rooms. The hotel was completed in 1883, but was extended along with the station in 1901–1906. The hotel extension was designed by James Miller and it opened on 15 April 1907. The world's first long-distance television pictures were transmitted to the Central Hotel in the station, on 24 May 1927 by John Logie Baird.

Following the break-up of British Transport Hotels in the early 1980s, the hotel was sold in 1983 and passed through the hands of various private operators until The Real Hotel Company plc was forced into administration in February 2009, and the hotel subsequently closed amid concerns of asbestos contamination and structural deterioration.

Great Central Railway

The Great Central Railway (GCR) was a railway company in England which came into being when the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway changed its name in 1897 in anticipation of the opening in 1899 of its London Extension (see Great Central Main Line). On 1 January 1923, it was grouped into the London and North Eastern Railway. Today, small sections of the main line in Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire are preserved; see Great Central Railway (preserved). Several other sections of GCR lines are still in public operation, including the southern end of the line from Marylebone Station in London into the Chiltern region.

The main line route south of Nottinghamshire was closed down on the recommendation of Richard Beeching in the 1960s. In the 21st century there are a growing number of voices (notably the Economic Research Council) calling for restoration and electrification of the GCR route to modern standards. It would then create a cost-efficient and geographically advantageous dedicated high-speed passenger railway between London and the major northern cities of Sheffield, Manchester and Leeds - in preference to the HS2 greenfield project.

Great Central

Great Central or Great Central Railway may refer to:

Railways

Other

See also