Beaverbrook Town House

Underpromise and overdeliver: Beaverbrook Town House is not one but two restored Georgian townhouses, right on Sloane Street, across from Cadogan Place Gardens, where Chelsea meets Knightsbridge. It wears one of its inspirations on its sleeve: it’s the city sibling of a Surrey country-house hotel that was once the home of newspaper baron, government minister, and society bigwig Lord Beaverbrook. It’s appropriately packed with inter-war glamour, and its colors are particularly vivid, thanks to designer Nicola Harding, who we imagine watches Wes Anderson films for their gritty realism.

The second inspiration is Japan, which is a welcome curveball; not only is there a contemporary Japanese restaurant, the Fuji Grill, complete with Hokusai prints, and a subtle thread of Japanese art and design is woven throughout the rest of the hotel. (The original Beaverbrook set was nothing if not well-traveled.) Meanwhile, Sir Frank’s Bar is named for the Beaverbrook Town House’s other maestro, creative director Sir Frank Lowe, the man responsible for many of the unique and extraordinary objects and artworks that fill the hotel’s spaces. With just 14 luxe rooms and suites, it’s an intimate experience, though an exceedingly private one; we might say “exclusive,” were it not so welcoming and generous in its charm.