Michael Donnelly,
PlanningResource,
5 September 2008
The former Playboy club and casino in Mayfair is to be stripped down and transformed into a luxury hotel.
The site at 45 Park Lane - opposite Hyde Park - has been vacant for 13 years.
It was originally home to Hugh Hefner's Playboy Club and Casino from 1966 until it closed in 1982, following a police raid over suspected illegal gambling, despite no subsequent evidence of wrongdoing.
Clientele included actors Sean Connery, Michael Caine and Joan Collins, and footballer George Best.
The building was originally created by Bauhaus architect Walter Gropius.
Under the plans, the outside of the grey concrete-clad building will be redesigned to be made more harmonious with the mixture of neo-Georgian blocks and eighteenth century buildings which line Park Lane and surrounding streets.
Councillor Robert Davis, Westminster City Council’s deputy leader and cabinet member for planning, said: "This is a tremendously exciting development which will turn a building which has lain empty for 13 years into a thriving business, attracting visitors from all around the world while creating jobs for the local economy.
"The new design should also restore elegance to the site and will be in keeping with the other architecturally stunning buildings in the vicinity."
Work on the hotel is due to start early next year.
michael.donnelly@haymarket.com
