The Academy Hotel launches new Alchemy bar and library
The Academy Hotel has launched its new Alchemy bar and library featuring the famous group of intellectuals The Bloomsbury Set from the early 20th century.
The Academy, owned by firm YTL Hotels, now offers a peaceful and sophisticated space for guests to focus on their writings and works. It is also dedicated to the group of writers, intellectuals, philosophers and artists who used to live and work in the streets near the Gower Street property.
Intellectuals such as Virginia Woolf, John Maynard Keynes and E.M. Forster, all belonging to The Bloomsbury Set, served as the inspiration behind the Alchemy library.
The books available to guests, selected in collaboration between Nicola Beauman of Persephone Books, comedian Alexei Sayle and playwright Polly Stenham, include ‘Mrs Dalloway’, ‘To The Lighthouse’, ‘Orlando’ and ‘A Room of One’s Own’ by Virginia Woolf; The ‘Origin of Species’ by Charles Darwin; ‘David Copperfield’ and ‘Pickwick’s Papers’ by Charles Dickens; and ‘Journey Through a Small Planet’ by Emanuel Litvinoff.
The library also houses a selection of books of modern-day Bloomsbury-based figures including ‘Atonement’ and ‘Enduring Love’ by Ian McEwan; ‘A Passage to India’ by E.M.Forster; ‘Mr Darcy’s Diary’ by Maya Slater; ‘Someone at a Distance’ by Dorothy Whipple; and ‘The Grand Sophy’ by Georgette Heyer, among others.
The announcement of the new book-filled bar and library, located at the area which is famous for its quirky publishers & booksellers, came as the hotel underwent a multi-million-pound refurbishment, reopening as a 50-bedroom boutique hotel with sumptuous and chic interiors by the award-winning Champalimaud Designs.
