The Ritz Hotel, London

Uncommon card · No. 117447

The Ritz London is a 5-star luxury hotel at 150 Piccadilly in London, England. A symbol of high society and luxury, it is considered one of the world's most prestigious and best known hotels. The Ritz has become so associated with luxury and elegance that the word "ritzy" has entered the English language to denote something that is ostentatiously stylish, fancy, or fashionable. The hotel was opened by Swiss hotelier César Ritz in 1906, eight years after he established the Hôtel Ritz Paris. It began to gain popularity towards the end of World War I, with politicians, socialites, writers and actors in particular. David Lloyd George held a number of secret meetings at the Ritz during the latter half of the war, and it was at the Ritz that he made the decision to intervene on behalf of Greece against the Ottoman Empire. Noël Coward was among the diners at the Ritz in the 1920s and 1930s. The hotel was owned by the Bracewell Smith family until 1976, when David and Frederick Barclay purchased...

Read on Wikipedia · Image Tony Hisgett from Birmingham, UK, CC BY 2.0