For the longest time I have fantasised about staying in Le Corbusier's proto-Brutalist masterpiece, the Unite d'Habitation in Marseille, knowing that there is actually a hotel in there. This isn't, as one might imagine, a cynical money making scheme dreamt up recently but an element of the building that was always there from the original plans; intended as a place for residents' visitors to stay. These days, of course, it is mostly occupied by devotees of the architect making their pilgrimage to his mecca for mass housing. But one doesn't have to travel as far afield as Marseille to experience Brutalism from the inside. In Britain there are a number of hotels designed in the 'massive' period in which one can book a room, and it needn't be brutal to your bank account either.
St.Giles Hotel, just off the Tottenham Court Road in London's Bloomsbury district, was originally intended to replace the Edwardian YMCA that was demolished to make way for it and was designed by the Ellworth Sykes partnership. Completed in 1977 it remains one of the best examples of Brutalism in the capital; a cluster of four jagged towers in rough cast concrete which jut out over Bedford Avenue. The distinctive design allows natural light into all of the rooms while the projecting concrete acts as bries soleil providing shading from the sun. The 'saw-tooth' arrangement allows privacy as well as uninterrupted views with no rooms facing directly onto any other. A single room can be booked off-peak for as little as £92 which will get you all the usual stuff (safe, work desk, bathroom with shower, hairdryer, flat-screen TV, tea and coffee maker) as well as one of the most central locations for shopping and sight seeing. And if you want more Brutalism it too is on your doorstep with Lasdun's Institute of Education and Seifert's Centre Point both only a few minute's walk away.
The Sheraton Park Hotel by Richard Seiffert Partners enjoys salubrious surroundings situated at 101 Knightsbridge near Hyde Park. It is immediately distinctive with its drum shaped tower, bristling with protruding window bays around its surface. Completed in 1973, the original plan was to build a much taller tower but the LCC and Royal Fine Arts Commission rejected the plans and so the main feature was reduced to 55m. The podium on which the tower stands was less imposing and seems rather featureless by comparison but then the eye is so readily drawn upwards that it barely matters. Seifert seems to have been rather intrigued by geometry as evidenced by a similar drum-shaped structure at 1 Kemble Street and the eliptical sliver of Centre Point, both completed nearly seven years before Sheraton Park Tower. At present one can stay for a night off peak in a single room for about £220 if you shop around for rates online rather than booking directly with the hotel. As well as the usual features of a modern five star room (28" telly, wireless internet, mini bar) you'll be greeted with a glass of champagne on arrival (imagine that at 9am - I'd have to save it for later!), enjoy a marble bathroom with robes and slippers supplied and sleep under a duck-down duvet. You'll wake in the morning to enjoy the view from a bank of three of those fabulous windows which will afford great panoramas if you're high enough up.
The Holiday Inn chain boasts among its portfolio of coastal destinations, a fantastic example also by Seifert and Partners which remains remarkably unmolested on Brighton's seafront, within sight of Wells Coats' iconic inter-war period Embassy Court. Completed in 1967 it came at a time of peak activity for the architect who was also working on London's Centre Point and another building in Brtighton, the Sussex Heights apartment block, completed a year later. Originally known as Bedford Towers or the Bedford Hotel, Seifert's block stood on the site of the Georgian hotel of the same name designed by Thomas Cooper, opening in 1829. By the 1960s it had undergone many changes of ownership until AVP Industries decided to demolish it in favour of a modern tower block. Fate took a hand in settling any arguments about pulling down a Brighton landmark pre-dating the Grand Hotel when a fire tore through the building on 1 April 1964. The opportunity to rebuild led to Seifert and Partners being chosen and the design is grand and beautifully balanced, albeit much less imposing than Sussex Heights at only 49m tall, with a strong linear emphasis redolent of Denys Lasdun's flats at St James's Place. A single room can be booked off-peak for just under £100 going direct to the hotel but better deals are more than likely if you shop around.
Of course if you wanted to experience living with Brutalism longer term and have around £400,000 to blow, a flat in Goldfinger's Trellick Tower can be bought leasehold. This may be an extreme way to show one's devotion to an architectural epoch and so instead a short break in one of Britain's great post-war hotels may be just the ticket.
For more on Brutalist architecture in Britain read my book available from www.crowoodpress.co.uk.
