An Exclusive Look at the Dorchester's Refurbished Oliver Messel Suite

Who wouldn’t want to stay in a room designed by a man who once said he “attempted to use every device to make as much magic as possible”? Say the name Olivier Messel in certain circles and a hush falls over the room. In one of the most legendary apartments in Paris, his original sketches line an entire wall. Messel was the leading British stage designer of the mid-twentieth century. He became known for his exquisite taste and his meticulous attention to detail, both aesthetic and historical, in his work on plays, films, interiors, musicals, operas, and ballets. If you have ever marveled at Merle Oberon’s costumes of The Scarlet Pimpernel, or the sets of Romeo & Juliet or Suddenly Last Summer, you are an Olivier Messel fan too.

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In the 1950's, London’s The Dorchester hotel very cleverly invited Messel to design a suite. What weary traveler doesn’t want to walk into their room and immediately feel like the star of their own show? Norman Parkinson photographed it on completion and the scale model of it is now a part of the collection of the Victoria & Albert Museum. The Olivier Messel suite became one of those legendary hotel rooms that a certain kind of guest insists on booking for months at a time, and others put on their bucket list of places they need to stay before they die.

This fall, put it back on the list. The Olivier Messel Suite at The Dorchester will reopen after a restoration that involved over 2,000 hours of specialist work, and 2,750 sheets of 24 karat gold leaf to the moldings. And, a rediscovered treasure will be revealed: during the restoration an arch of roses painted by Messel on the domed ceiling was unearthed, hidden under layers of later emulsion. There it was, all these years later, and there it is again, that Messel magic.

A detail of the hallway in the refurbished suite.

For a project like this to pass muster with the Messel aficionados—and there are many—the hotel realized it would need to be painstaking in the details, of course, but also in historical accuracy. It took years of archival research of records and photographs, consultation with conservation experts, and a little detective work, too, to track down original suppliers. The mission was to stay as true as possible to Messel’s original 1953 vision (and, obviously, add modern technology, including a Bang & Olufsen television, hidden behind an illustrated screen).

A craftsman re-touching a detail in the suite.

It was a formidable team: “Hare & Humphreys led the conservation with ARTEK appointed for the building work; Madison Black restored lighting; BTA Contract Interiors were enlisted for the fitting of the suite’s upholstery and silk fabric wallcoverings; Riverdale Interiors for the furniture restoration; A Shade Above remade the suite’s iconic lamp shades; Wyvern Bindery refurbished the suite’s famed “fake book” doors concealing a cocktail cabinet; Robena crafted bespoke drapery; and flooring was completed by Abbeywood. The suite’s original floral silk wall coverings, first selected by Messel in the 1950s, have been exclusively reprinted for this project by Sekers, in collaboration with Sanderson Design Group. This one-off reissue, reserved for the suite alone, honors the legacy of Miki Sekers’ long-standing relationship with Messel. Complementing fabrics include azalea-pink silks and the re-woven imperial yellow Ottoman, produced in Italy for the bed canopy.”

The Suite will be unveiled again in October, and the restoration of the other Messel spaces within The Dorchester will follow. For some there is nothing like going to the theater in London. Imagine if you never had to leave your hotel room to experience that same emotional rush? Though we do suggest at least stepping our for a martini at the Vesper Bar downstairs.