Standing in the unfinished Royal Suite of the Waldorf Astoria London, looking out through white sash windows down the Mall towards Buckingham Palace, it is hard not to wonder how anyone managed to put a hotel here. Admiralty Arch, the ceremonial gateway between Trafalgar Square and the Mall, has watched over a century of British state pageantry. Now, after an extensive restoration, it is preparing to welcome overnight guests for the first time in its history.
A Building Steeped in History
Commissioned by King Edward VII in memory of Queen Victoria and completed in 1912, Admiralty Arch was designed by Sir Aston Webb, the same architect behind the Buckingham Palace facade. For decades it housed the offices of the Admiralty and the residence of the First Sea Lord. Winston Churchill and Ian Fleming both walked its corridors. The building is Grade I listed, England's highest tier of historic preservation, which means every detail of its conversion required meticulous, painstaking restoration.
The British government moved out in 2011, leaving the Portland stone exterior dulled by a century of traffic fumes and the interiors in a sorry state. The Reuben Brothers acquired the arch in 2022 and have overseen a comprehensive restoration. Every stone inch of the facade has been cleaned and repaired. Original shrapnel damage from Second World War bombing has been deliberately retained. Two nine-foot statues originally planned for the facade in 1912 but never sculpted were finally created and installed, only 112 years late, now presiding over the central portals facing Trafalgar Square.
Soft Curves and Naval Names
Colossal from the outside, the hotel is surprisingly intimate within. It comprises just 114 rooms, suites and residences, with more than half of the accommodation space given over to expansive residential and signature suites. No two rooms are the same, a consequence of the building's idiosyncratic floor plan. Warm woods, polished metals and stone complement carefully restored historic features, creating spaces that feel less like hotel rooms and more like private London residences.
The suite names reference the building's naval heritage. The Nelson Suite honours Britain's one-armed seafaring hero. The Victory Residence takes its name from HMS Victory. The St James's Residence nods to the nearby royal park. Each space has been shaped by interior designers who chose not to force a single design language across every room, instead letting the architecture dictate the approach.
Two Michelin-Starred Restaurants
The Waldorf Astoria London will also be a major fine dining destination. Clare Smyth, whose London restaurant Core holds Michelin stars, will head up Coreus, a seafood restaurant set within the former home of the First Sea Lord. Daniel Boulud, the celebrated French chef with a constellation of Michelin stars to his name, will run Cafe Boulud on the rooftop. The brasserie will open onto a panoramic roof terrace with views towards the Houses of Parliament, Nelson's Column and Buckingham Palace, offering all-day dining from breakfast through to dinner.
For events, the hotel features a 3,540-square-foot ballroom with a nine-metre antique Murano chandelier that was painstakingly restored in Rome. Guests arriving for gala dinners and weddings will descend the building's original oval staircase to reach the ballroom below, a journey that encapsulates the building's blend of heritage and new purpose.
A Spa Below the Arch
Beyond the dining and event spaces, the hotel offers an extensive spa where guests can unwind with massages, facials, a swim in the pool, and sessions in the sauna and steam room. It is a marked contrast to the building's previous life as a hub of naval administration, where the ringing of telephones and the haze of cigarette smoke once filled the air.
Opening Early 2027
Bookings at the Waldorf Astoria London Admiralty Arch are now open from February 1, 2027, with doubles starting from approximately $1,055 per night. The opening represents a rare convergence of history, place and possibility. As Dino Michael, Senior Vice President of Hilton's luxury brands, has noted, to open a building of such cultural and national significance to overnight guests is both a privilege and a responsibility. It reflects a broader vision for Waldorf Astoria as a brand that inhabits the world's most meaningful destinations, where heritage is not preserved as a backdrop but reinterpreted as a living, contemporary experience.
Admiralty Arch joins a wave of London landmark conversions that includes Raffles London at the Old War Office, the Rosewood the Chancery in the former US Embassy, and Six Senses in the former Whiteleys department store. But none carries quite the same weight of history, or quite the same view.