hospitalitystyle.com

(March 2010) posted on Tue Mar 02, 2010 EST

A Boho-meets-Soho vibe, accented with some heavy rock riffs, creates a ‘haven of hedonism’ in two former Georgian townhouses.

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By Mary Scoviak

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You'd expect any hotel launched by U.K. music/entertainment mogul Mark Fuller to look extravagant and exclusive. Okay, those are the polite terms. What you'd really brace for is the design equivalent of the iconoclastic, ear-shattering hits of Iron Maiden, the British heavy metal band co-managed by his Concept Venues partner Andy Taylor. The West End's new Sanctum Soho Hotel delivers both. With its rich mix of classical lines, bespoke furnishings, inventive experiments with scale and purposely provocative accents, this 30-room boutique property synthesizes the world of rock with a role as a bona-fide luxury hotel.   

Like Fuller (the larger-than-life caterer to rock bands turned band manager turned restaurateur/hotelier), the Sanctum Soho at first seems primarily about image. For both, that's cultivated. A micro-manager with a strong operations and marketing bent, Fuller is talking business, not hyperbole, when he says his starting point for his first lodging concept was “to reinvent what you get from a hotel.”

“I've stayed in enough four- and five-stars to know they'll provide a good bath, a good bed and a good TV.  I've also stayed in enough that were so uniform that I don't even remember I was there. That was what I wanted to do differently with the Sanctum Soho,” he says.

The question was how, especially in a city known worldwide for some of the most distinctive upscale hotels on the planet. Soho's checkered past and colorful, eclectic present suggested the basic design direction. “I knew I wanted to get rid of the white thing,” says Fuller, referring to the trend toward pristine monochromes that informs any number of design-led hotels. “This isn't California. It's London. It rains. I was looking for a design that celebrates Soho and its bohemian culture. I wasn't thinking ‘rock and roll' hotel. I was thinking about the feeling of rock and roll.”

Of the short-listed interior design firms that presented to Fuller and Concept Venues' decision makers, only Lesley Purcell, founder and head of London-based Can Do, got the subtle difference. Her approach introduced fabrics, colors and other design elements that bridged the artistic and creative style of bohemian design with rock's more glamorous references. (Think Jimi Hendrix as the inspiration for the Purple Haze guest room.)