Location Janpath, New Delhi Owner Akoi Family Architect Blomfield | Opening 1936 Floor count 3 Number of rooms 235 | |
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The Imperial, New Delhi, built in 1931, is a luxury hotel in India, located at Janpath, Previously called Queensway, close to Connaught Place in New Delhi. It was New Delhi’s first luxurious grand hotel.
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Today it has the largest collection of colonial and post-colonial art and artifacts anywhere in Delhi, and has a museum and an art gallery.
History
The hotel was opened in 1936, designed in mix of Victorian and colonial architecture with a hint of Art Deco style by architect, F.B. Blomfield, an associate of Edwin Lutyens, who in turn designed the new capital of British Raj, New Delhi, also inaugurated in the same year, and contained in Lutyens' Delhi. The Imperial was built by S.B.S. Ranjit Singh, son of R.B.S. Narain Singh, honoured by the British Raj, at the Coronation Durbar of 1911, wherein New Delhi was declared the new Capital of India from Calcutta.
The hotel was restored by its General Manager and Vice President, Mr Harvinder Sekhon, between 1996 and 2001. During his tenure, the Imperial hosted the Queen of the Netherlands, Hollywood actors and actresses, adventurers, and tycoons. He also opened the six restaurants and bars which are called "Spice Route", "Patiala Peg Bar", "1911 Restaurant and Bar", "Daniells Tavern" and "San Gimignano". Please also refer to the "New Delhi Hotel Opens Door to Art, Los Angeles Times, December 7, 1997, Associated Press" and "India: Fishlock's empire" by Mr. Trevor Fishlock, Daily Telegraph, London, 27 November 2000.
Heritage
Hotel Imperial, New Delhi is well known for its heritage and legacy. It has a well known bar called 'Patiala Peg'. It was this hotel and the bar where Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, Mahatma Gandhi, Mohammad Ali Jinnah and Lord Mountbatten met to discuss the Partition of India and the birth of Pakistan. It is also the name of a school in Aligarh.