Early years From 1247 to 1676, the site was occupied by the Priory of St Mary of Bethlehem, which became England's first hospital for the mentally ill, the
Bethlehem Royal Hospital, known colloquially as 'Bedlam'. The Great Eastern Hotel was built by the
Great Eastern Railway to serve its London terminus Liverpool Street Station. It opened in May 1884 and was designed by
Charles Barry, Jr. and his son Charles Edward Barry and built by
Lucas Brothers. It was expanded in 1901, to designs by
Robert William Edis, with interior fittings by
Maple & Co. The extension included a suite of reception rooms known as the Abercorn Rooms.
Lord Claud Hamilton, son of the
Duke of Abercorn was director of the railway, later its chairman. The hotel's clientele included business people who could avoid
City traffic by staying near the railway station. A daily supply of fresh sea water for bathing was brought in by train. The building is notable also for its inclusion of two
Masonic Temples—an Egyptian temple in the basement and a Grecian temple on the first floor. Caledonian Lodge No 134, an English
lodge for Scottish
Masons in London, met at the Great Eastern from 1920 to 1947.
Recent history By the second half of the twentieth century, the Great Eastern Hotel was in need of renovations. Following the redesign and improvement of the adjoining railway station in the 1980s, In 1996,
Railtrack sold the hotel to a consortium including
Terence Conran. The hotel was closed and restored at a cost of £65 million by
Jasper Conran's Conran Holdings and
Wyndham International in a 50/50 partnership. Manser Associates served as the architects and Conran Design Group created new interiors in the historic building. A new lobby was created by removing several existing guest rooms, and the capacity was increased to 267 rooms by reusing attic space. The design was informed by the practice of
daylighting, realised by providing
lightwells in the ceiling of the lobby and in the main dining room and by providing as many views of London as possible in the bedrooms. The hotel reopened on 2 March 2000, managed by Wyndham. On 14 March 2006, the hotel was sold by Conran Holdings and the Blackstone Group for £150 million to
Global Hyatt Corporation and JER Partners, which rebranded it as
Andaz London Liverpool Street on November 16, 2007. In November 2022, plans were announced for a £1.5 billion redevelopment of the entire station complex, designed by Swiss architects
Herzog & de Meuron. The plans would have turned the original Great Eastern Hotel building into part of the station, and would have moved the Andaz Hotel business into one of two new adjacent towers. The plans caused significant controversy among preservationists. In November 2024, the plans were significantly revised, due to the objections. == Facilities ==