The founder of the world’s first boutique hotel moved to London in 1962 with just £10 to her name. She’s acted with Anton Rodgers in Zodiac and was in the 1969 James Bond film On Her Majesty’s Secret Service but it as a designer of global repute that she is best known. Married to Sir Mark Weinberg, the founder of St. James’s Place Wealth Management, Hempel was born on a boat sailing from Papua New Guinea to New Zealand. This society figure’s first hotel, Blakes, created in 1978, is the favourite of personalities such as Sharon Stone and Seal and still sets the barometer for style today.
Two stories to keep beside you
Lee Miller (Lady Penrose, born Elizabeth Miller, 1907 – 1977)
One of the only female professional photographers accredited as an official US war correspondent during World War II, Lee Miller was photographed sitting in Hitler’s very own bathtub in Munich on the day he committed suicide in Berlin. The Roll Call – WILDCARDS
Anne Naysmith (1937 – 2015, AKA “The Rag Lady of Chiswick”)
A former concert pianist who once played at the Wigmore Hall, Anne Naysmith began sleeping in her blue Ford Consul
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1 comment
This is a great hotel , but most of it has been changed since it was first deigsned by Anouska Hempel , even the red room and black and white room in the photos are the closest to the original design , but have had subtle changes and lack the perfection of Hempel’s design ! None of the public spaces have any link to Anouska Hempels first design , they were made over and ruined what was an outstanding hotel !