Issue 48 AUG 25 web - Flipbook - Page 13
beauty and craft could sit easily together. Silk-lined walls,
gilded mouldings, chinoiserie mirrors and a show-stopping
bed canopied in imperial yellow Ottoman silk gave the
space a distinctive, dreamlike quality.
A legacy of imagination and artistry
Oliver Messel was born in London in 1904 and became
one of the most original stage designers of the 20th
century. Known for his inventive work across ballet, opera
and theatre, he later brought that same sense of wonder
to interiors, shaping a more romantic, expressive approach
to post-war design. The suite he created at The
Dorchester in 1953 - a place, he said, he would have
liked to live himself - remains the most complete and
transformative expression of that vision.
To mark its completion, Norman Parkinson was invited
to photograph the interiors for a special design brochure,
helping to establish the suite’s visual legacy. The impact
was lasting: a scale model of the original 1953 suite now
forms part of the permanent collection at the V&A. This
rare, institutional recognition of a hotel interior
underscores the suite’s place in British design history.
Commissioned by then-owner Sir Robert McAlpine, the
suite was imagined as a private escape where theatre,
i
i
Conservation & Heritage Journal
11
