{"id":23654,"date":"2025-02-22T09:40:04","date_gmt":"2025-02-22T09:40:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/chiltern-firehouse-future-unclear-after-large-fire\/"},"modified":"2025-02-22T09:40:04","modified_gmt":"2025-02-22T09:40:04","slug":"chiltern-firehouse-future-unclear-after-large-fire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/chiltern-firehouse-future-unclear-after-large-fire\/","title":{"rendered":"Chiltern Firehouse future unclear after large fire"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
Vincent McAviney & Aurelia Foster<\/span><\/p>\n

BBC News<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n
\"BBCBBC<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

A barrier has been erected around the building while initial work is done to stabilise the structure<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
\n

A luxury central London hotel popular with celebrities could be closed for years following a large fire, according to an architecture firm that previously worked on the building.<\/p>\n

Flames ripped through Chiltern Firehouse in Chiltern Street, Marylebone, on 14 February – caused by burning wood falling from a pizza oven. <\/p>\n

Architect Harriet Pillman said restoring the Victorian four-storey building was likely to be “complex for lots of reasons”.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, it is feared a prolonged closure of the five-star hotel and restaurant could have a knock-on effect on other local businesses.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n
\"LondonLondon Fire Brigade<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The roof and other parts of the Victorian building were destroyed by the flames<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
\n

The fire, which began about 1500 GMT, <\/a>damaged parts of the ground floor, half of the second floor and destroyed the third floor and roof.<\/p>\n

Formerly Manchester Square Fire Station, the 1889 building was converted into a 26-suite hotel and 200-seat restaurant in 2013 and became known as a celebrity haunt.<\/p>\n

A representative of the hotel told the BBC he did not know the full extent of the damage nor how long it would take to restore it.<\/p>\n

Ms Pillman – whose firm Donald Insall Associates helped convert the building into a hotel and also worked on the restoration of Windsor Castle after the 1992 fire – said the initial stages of the work would take at least a year and it could be three years until its ready to reopen. <\/p>\n

“Projects like this are complex for lots of reasons, the main one being that the initial stages are very different to a normal architectural project.”<\/p>\n

She said the building first needed to be stabilised, the fire-damaged material needed to be removed and the structure had to be dried out. <\/p>\n

“It’s only then that architectural proposals can be developed,” Ms Pillman said.<\/p>\n

Neighbouring retailers, mostly independents, believe the Chiltern Firehouse is important for the local business community.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n
\"Brendan<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Neighbouring retailer Brendan Murdock said the Chiltern Firehouse was important for business in the area<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
\n

Brendan Murdock, who runs the health and beauty store anatom\u0113 told the BBC it was “really quite shocking” to see the hotel in flames.<\/p>\n

He said the closure of Chiltern Firehouse had already had a “significant” impact on footfall into the street, and it had missed out on the “currency of traffic coming through” for the hotel.<\/p>\n

“There’s generally an energy around the hotel bringing people into Chiltern Street.”<\/p>\n

Mr Murdock said he hoped restaurant could open as an outdoor eaterie during the summer months.<\/p>\n

“It’s super important for us for it to be open… and without it we’d lose a lot of footfall coming into the street.<\/p>\n

“So it’s a big concern. How long will it take to re-establish their business?”<\/p>\n

Josh Fehnert, editor of Monocle Magazine, which also operates a cafe and two shops on the street, said the fire had been a “gut punch for the neighbourhood”.<\/p>\n

Describing the Chiltern Firehouse as “a big character” on the street, he said it was also an important part of the community of local businesses.<\/p>\n

Mr Fenhert acknowledged that it could now remain closed for a considerable period of time.<\/p>\n

“There is a plan to re-open the building and we’re optimistic,” he said. <\/p>\n

“We need a little bit of time to take stock and also make sure the renovations are done properly and this building is respected as it’s brought back to life.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n


\n
Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Vincent McAviney & Aurelia Foster BBC News BBC A barrier has been erected around the building while initial work is done to stabilise the structure A luxury central London hotel popular with celebrities could be closed for years following a large fire, according to an architecture firm that previously worked on the building. Flames ripped […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":23655,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[8741,666,8742,87,1077,8743],"class_list":["post-23654","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-england","tag-chiltern","tag-fire","tag-firehouse","tag-future","tag-large","tag-unclear"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23654","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23654"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23654\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23656,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23654\/revisions\/23656"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23655"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23654"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23654"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23654"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}