Imperial Hotel, Russell Square 1970

The first Imperial Hotel opened here in 1907 in a flamboyant Art Nouveau–Gothic–Tudor style. It stood 15 floors tall (~61 m) with around 640 rooms, a lavish winter garden, and Turkish baths featuring Russian-vapour, electric‑light, and even ultraviolet treatments. Physicist Leo Szilard stayed here when he first conceived the atomic‑bomb idea.

In 1966–67, the old hotel was torn down, officially due to structural unsoundness and lack of en‑suite bathrooms, though changing architectural tastes likely played a role. Replaced by a Brutalist-style 10‑storey building in 1969, designed by Charles Lovett Gill, echoing that of its sister hotel, the Bedford Hotel.