The Savoy Hotel in the Jazz Age

Take a virtual tour of The Savoy, London’s first luxury hotel, with archivist Susan Scott as she goes behind-the-scenes of hotel glitz and glamour during the 1920s.

Since its foundation, by theatrical impresario Richard D’Oyly Carte in 1889, The Savoy has embraced the latest in technology and entertainment: it was the first hotel lit by electricity and the first with electric lifts. Yet it was after the First World War that The Savoy pioneered dancing in the large restaurants, along with air conditioning, steam-heating, soundproofed windows, 24-hour room service and telephones in every bathroom. The British premiere of Rhapsody in Blue by George Gershwin was broadcast from The Savoy in 1925 and the dance bands at the hotel became some of the most renowned in Europe.

Learn more with a selection of fascinating stories and images of the hotel, now and then, including portraits of some of the hotel’s revered guests made by regular patron James Abbe.

Susan Scott is archivist at The Savoy, the only hotel to employ a dedicated historian. She has written an introductory chapter for the latest (2014) edition of the Savoy Cocktail Book, looking at the history of this iconic book, first published 1930, and is in great demand for event talks and historic tours of The Savoy.