After two years of construction and a delay as Great Britain returns to COVID-19 lockdowns, the new Telegraph Hotel will be opening soon in Coventry, England. The former Coventry Telegraph headquarters has been transformed into a luxury hotel that celebrates the cool mid-century style of the building.
Oliver Redfern, designer at Squid.Inc., who worked on the project, said that the mid-century style of the building is just now being appreciated. “When the project first came across my table, I had been to Coventry but didn’t really know the city, so I came over from my home, which is not too far away, and realized there was much more in the city than I had appreciated,” he said. “Architecturally it has so much to offer. In past years, the post-war architecture in the U.K. has had a bit of a bad rap outside of the design world, but I think recently people have come to appreciate that it is good quality design.”
He said it is certainly true with the “glorious Telegraph building, especially when we began to peel back the various layers,” he said. “What often happens, especially with commercial buildings is that alterations are hastily made to meet the demands of the day. They are crudely erected so the originality of the building gets lost to the eye, thankfully in this case it was just hidden awaiting to be rediscovered.”
Created by Complex Development Projects, the hotel sets out to bring glamour and charisma to the Coventry hotel market with a large bar, conservatory restaurant, conference suite and rooftop bar. It has 88 individually designed air-conditioned bedrooms including loft-style penthouse suites on two levels. Two paneled board rooms are available for private dining and meetings and there’s a library of post-war design and newspaper heritage.
“We have approached the design ethos as if we were opening a hotel in the 1950s,” said Redfern. “That means you do not design as a pastiche, but rather a contemporary building of its time with materials that would have been readily available. Of course, there will be plenty of nods to its newspaper past in the form of artwork, literature, signage—things where you can spike people’s curiosity and arouse their interest rather than hit them between the eyes with it. I would describe the look as ‘modern mid-century, with a British quirkiness.’”
The hotel’s most luxurious room is the Lord Iliffe Suite—named after the family who started and until recently owned the newspaper—which includes its own hot tub and terrace.
The building’s other mid-century features and artifacts have been retained and signature period furniture and art pieces have been acquired to feature in the public areas. The hotel also has a Winter Garden—which is made up of 11 bedrooms overlooking a private, glazed indoor terrace only accessible from these rooms.
The hotel will be operated by Bespoke Hotels.
