This is the front for what was the world's largest building on completion, the great railway hotel for St Pancras Station. However a few years after opening it fell into obsoletion when central heating
and hot water was invented (before that it functioned with only a few bathrooms for the hundreds of guests). It became a horrible, semi-abandoned office bock for the railways
after, complete with panelling and strip lighting to hide all that Victorian splendour - and was very nearly torn down in the 70s. It took a decade and a $1billion to restore the complex.
It's not the grandest in the city and is due for another rehaul, but it does revive the great era of steam travel and Victoriana (the most expensive hotels in London prefer to hark back to the
Edwardian era to enjoy the mod cons but with all the florid intricacy).
The Corinthia was saved from demolition a decade ago, whose estate (the Crown) was adamant the building was absolutely impossible to modernise
and needed a glass box to replace it. Unlike the previous two it's steadfastly up to date:
Bonus - The Royal Houseguards - not a 5* but a hell of potential, what was once the most expensive apartments in the world is now an uninspired conversion.