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The streets of London’s Mayfair, where the composer George Frideric Handel once lived, have always embraced exclusivity, but these days even the wealthiest can barely afford more than a cubbyhole. The district’s lifeblood is a thriving trade in high-end goods. On New Bond Street – a two-minute walk, or 30 seconds in your Rolls-Royce – lavishly designed stores carry all the major luxury brands. Famous auction house Sotheby’s rubs shoulders with Fendi and Zegna, and legendary gallery owner David Zwirner courts art lovers with the contemporary creations of some of the world’s most sought-after artists.

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The neighborhood is synonymous with old money and sprightly gentility. Presumably, anyone opening a hotel here is aiming for the kind of clientele that steadfastly hands lavish country estates and family jewels from generation to generation. But not Iranian-born hotelier Navid Mirtorabi: in 2022, he opened The Twenty Two, a hotel with 31 rooms and a members’ club in an Edwardian sandstone manor house, with the aim of attracting a younger crowd.

The Twenty Two
22 Grosvenor Square, London W1K 6LF, United Kingdom
Tel.: +44 20 3988 5022
Web: the22.london

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The hotelier fought for this project for six years, even meeting with the Duke of Westminster, who owns the land. It probably helped that the duke, Hugh Grosvenor, is himself in his early 30s and perhaps thought the centrally located Twenty Two would be a welcome retreat should he find himself at a loose end. There is no dress code in Mirtorabi’s hotel, with the credo that everyone already knows what outfit they look best in – though athleisure and beachwear are gently discouraged. The hotelier combines his unique elegance with a well-thought-out aesthetic, and interior designer Natalia Miyar bypassed stuffy brown leather armchairs in favor of a sensual Parisian lightness. There’s a carefully orchestrated cacophony of colors and textures: ocean-blue walls, fiery red curtains, bright herringbone parquet. The playful eclecticism invites you to dream. In some of the attic rooms, the slanting walls and ceilings are covered in a red-patterned Pierre Frey wallpaper with matching upholstery and a deep-red velvet bed frame, enveloping guests in a lush haze of hedonism.

The louche elegance continues down the leopard-print carpet that leads into the basement Music Room. A decidedly decadent club – ah, here’s the dark red velvet again! – where the party crowd can kick off a night on the town. It feels worlds away from the stiff propriety of nearby Buckingham Palace. The hotel restaurant is on the first floor, where Mirtorabi reportedly tested out 28 different shades of blue before settling on the current color. Guests – walk-in diners are expressly welcome – can expect the same level of care and perfectionism from their meal. Chef Alan Christie delivers British classics with a fresh Mediterranean twist, a London fusion of Ottolenghi and pub food. And on the weekend, the restaurant serves its version of a classic Sunday roast – certain traditions deserve to be preserved.

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The Twenty Two
22 Grosvenor Square, London W1K 6LF, United Kingdom
Tel.: +44 20 3988 5022
Web: the22.london