Refined design

The hotel features ?traffic-stopping? design features, says Campbell Gray.
[More Images]

RELATED ARTICLES: Beirut bound | Top Interior Designs: Hotels | GCC spend on new hotels to hit AED4.29bn in 2010

The new Le Gray Hotel Beirut has only been open for nine months, yet so perfectly does the building complement its surroundings that one has the feeling that it has always been there.

Framed by the Blue Mosque, Martyr’s Square and the refurbished Ottoman buildings of Downtown Beirut, the striking seven-storey hotel offers views of Lebanon’s famous snow-capped mountains on one side, and the azure waters of the Mediterranean Sea on the other.

The hotel is the fourth property to bear the Campbell Gray name, and marks the company’s first foray into the Middle East. “It’s not so much the Middle East I’m interested in,” said Gordon Campbell Gray, chairman of Campbell Gray Hotels, “but Beirut.”

Story continues below

Advertisement

FEATURED COMMENT Please click here to comment on this article

When Campbell Gray speaks of Beirut, it is almost how one would speak of a lover; in his eyes, the city is sexy, voluptuous, sumptuous. And like a lover with gifts, Campbell Gray has lavished on the city what he believes to be his sexiest hotel yet. Designed with renowned interior designer Mary Fox Linton, the hotel has 87 rooms, including 62 executive suites of 60m², 10 corner suites of 90m², and two presidential suites measuring 170m² and 220m².

More than 500 pieces of art, sourced personally by Campbell Gray from Cuba and the Middle East, adorn the walls. “We have a fantastic art collection,” he said. “It’s about the rooms having two or three pieces of art that have been considered, and I think that’s what makes our design shine out as being lovely.”

The hotel’s interiors reflect Lebanon’s love affair with wood. Cedar features strongly and timber adds to the richness of the design. The custom-made furniture, original to Le Gray Beirut, is all made of walnut.

Stone floors, timber ceilings, natural slate and granite underpin the design, and are complemented by handmade silk, wool and cotton fabrics. Clean, clutter-free surfaces give a final soothing touch to the hotel’s restrained style.

The pool and bar area embody the sensuality and hedonism that has come to symbolise Beirut. The rooftop purple-glass infinity pool is flanked by sunloungers and tables in blood red, “the last colour you’d expect to put in the heat”, according to Campbell Gray