The building was once the private home of a Duke. An Edwardian manor at 22 Grosvenor Square — Grade II listed, Portland stone facade, the kind of address that in London communicates a specific and unambiguous set of values. It spent years as office space. Navid Mirtorabi, the entrepreneur who previously owned Blakes in South Kensington, looked at it for six years before he opened it as a hotel in 2022. The project took that long because he was doing something specific: not converting an old building into a conventional hotel, but turning a private home into something that still felt like a private home — just one with 31 rooms and a members club.
The design is 18th-century France interpreted for 2022 — gilded, maximalist, theatrical in a way that stops just short of excess. It works because Miyar understood the building before she touched it.
The interior design is by Natalia Miyar — her first hotel project, which is worth noting because it does not look like a first project. It looks like the work of someone who spent a career designing private homes for people with serious taste and then applied that experience to a public space. The inspiration is 18th-century France — gilded, maximalist, theatrical in a way that stops short of excess. Gold fringing. Velvet piping. Statement bevelled mirrors. Custom upholstered pieces. The entrance hall, with its monochromatic cabochon marble, references Joséphine Bonaparte's Château de Malmaison. The rooms have double-height ceilings where the original architecture allows it. Blue was chosen to bring out the historic panelling. It works because Miyar understood the building well enough to let it lead.
31 rooms and suites, including a mews house. The Living Room — reserved for hotel guests and members — is the social center of the property. A round-the-clock restaurant with modern British fare and European influences overseen by Executive Chef Alan Christie. Four bars with the hotel's own spirits and cocktails. Managing Director Darius Namdar came from Mark's Club and launched Chiltern Firehouse in 2014 — his fingerprints are on the service culture in the best possible way. The hotel grants guests full membership during their stay, which matters because the members club is the best version of the building.
22 Grosvenor Square. The address is Mayfair but the culture is deliberately not the Mayfair that keeps people away. Mirtorabi's explicit intention was to bring creative people back to a neighborhood that had lost them — no dress code, a living room sensibility, the kind of welcome that makes the formidable front doors feel like an invitation rather than a test. It works. The Twentytwo is the most genuinely welcoming hotel in Mayfair, which in Mayfair is a significant achievement. The service remembers what you ordered last time. This is the entire argument.