The Imperial, New Delhi

Hotel in New Delhi, India

The Imperial New Delhi

Location within Delhi

General information
Location| Janpath, New Delhi
Coordinates| 28°37′32″N 77°12′57″E﻿ / ﻿28.6255°N 77.2158°E﻿ / 28.6255; 77.2158
Opening| 1936
Owner| S Parmar
Technical details
Floor count| 3
Design and construction
Architect(s)| Blomfield
Other information
Number of rooms| 235
Number of suites| 44
Number of restaurants| 6
Number of bars| 2
Website
theimperialindia.com

The Imperial New Delhi is a historic luxury hotel opened in 1936 in New Delhi, India. It is located on Janpath, close to Rajiv Chowk. It was New Delhi's first grand hotel.[1][2]

## History

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Palm trees lining the entrance of Imperial Hotel

The hotel was designed in a mix of Art Deco, Victorian and colonial styles by architect, F.B. Blomfield,[3] an associate of Edwin Lutyens, who designed the new capital of the British Raj, New Delhi. The hotel was built by Sandhu Jat Jagirdar S.B.S. Ranjit Singh, son of R.B.S. Narain Singh, honoured by the British Raj, at the Coronation Durbar of 1911, when New Delhi was declared the new Capital of India.[4][5]

The hotel was officially opened in 1936 by Lord Willingdon, the Viceroy of India. Also present was his wife, Lady Willingdon, who chose the hotel's name and conferred its lion insignia upon it.[6]

The hotel underwent restoration under the leadership of its General Manager and Vice President, Mr. Harvinder Sekhon, spanning from 1996 to 2001. During his tenure, the Imperial hosted notable guests including the Queen of the Netherlands, Hollywood celebrities, adventurers, and business magnates. Sekhon also oversaw the opening of six distinctive restaurants and bars: "Spice Route," "Patiala Peg Bar," "1911 Restaurant and Bar," "Daniells Tavern," and "San Gimignano." For further details, refer to articles such as "New Delhi Hotel Opens Door to Art, Los Angeles Times, December 7, 1997, Associated Press" and "India: Fishlock's empire" by Mr. Trevor Fishlock, Daily Telegraph, London, 27 November 2000.

Today, the hotel has the largest collection of colonial and post-colonial art and artifacts anywhere in Delhi, and has a museum and an art gallery.[7] The Imperial was awarded Travel + Leisure India's Best Award for Heritage Hotel in 2017,[8] awarded Best Heritage Hotel by Outlook Traveller in 2018[9] and listed in the Conde Nast Gold List of best hotels in 2018[10] in amongst multiple other awards.[11]

The hotel contains nine restaurants and eateries ranging from fine dining to bars, three function rooms, a spa, salon and nine styles of accommodation.

## Heritage

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Hotel Imperial, New Delhi is well known for its heritage and legacy. It has a well known bar called 'Patiala Peg'. It was this hotel and the bar where Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, Mahatma Gandhi, Mohammad Ali Jinnah and Lord Mountbatten met to discuss the Partition of India and the birth of Pakistan.[12] It is also the name of a school in Aligarh.[2]

## See also

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* List of hotels in Delhi

## Further reading

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* Andreas Augustin (2007). The Imperial, New Delhi. Vienna Austria: The Most Famous Hotels in the World https://famoushotels.org/books/the-imperial-new-delhi. ISBN 978-3-900692-17-9. `{{cite book}}`: External link in ``|publisher=`` (help)
* William Warren; Jill Gocher (2007). Asia's legendary hotels: the romance of travel. Singapore: Periplus Editions. ISBN 978-0-7946-0174-4.
* Kim Inglis; Jacob Termansen; Pia Marie Molbech (2004). cool hotels: india, maldives, sri lanka. Singapore: Periplus Editions. ISBN 0-7946-0173-1.

## References

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1. ^ The Imperial, New Delhi Archived 13 January 2011 at the Wayback Machine The New York Times
2. ^ a b Famous Hotels: Imperial New Delhi - the making of By Andreas Augustin. 4hoteliers.com. 11 December 2006.
3. ^ Kahn, Jeremy (30 December 2007). "Amnesty Plan for Relics of the Raj". The New York Times.
4. ^ Great, grand & famous hotels, by Fritz Gubler, Raewyn Glynn. Publisher: Great, Grand & Famous Hotels, 2008. ISBN 0-9804667-0-9.p. 250.
5. ^ The Imperial Asia's Legendary Hotels: The Romance of Travel, by William Warren, Jill Gocher. Tuttle Publishing, 2007. ISBN 0-7946-0174-X. p. 28.
6. ^ "The Imperial: A History of Delhi's First Luxury Hotel".
7. ^ The Imperial Delhi, by Patrick Horton, Richard Plunkett, Hugh Finlay. Lonely Planet, 2002. ISBN 1-86450-297-5. p. 107-108.
8. ^ Travel + Leisure Best Awards 2017 "Travel + Leisure 2017 Best Awards"
9. ^ Outlook Traveller Facebook Outlook Traveller Awards 2018 Jury Awards
10. ^ Conde Nast Traveller The Imperial, New Delhi, Editor's Pick: Gold List 2018
11. ^ Awards and Recognition The Imperial, New Delhi
12. ^ Ghose, Sanjoy (22 October 2020). "Delhi's Imperial Hotel and its Connect With Modern Indian History". The Wire.

* "'Lodged' in the heart of New Delhi". Hindustan Times. 30 August 2011. Archived from the original on 31 August 2011.

(http://www.hotelsofnewdelhi.com/five-star-deluxe-hotels-in-new-delhi/imperial-hotel-new-delhi.html)

## External links

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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Imperial Hotel, New Delhi.

* The Imperial Delhi
* The Imperial Hotels in New Delhi