Firm reservation for restoration: historic Georgian townhouses near Liverpool Street saved from demolition by £10m boutique hotel investment

A derelict Georgian terrace on the fringes of the City threatened with demolition for decades is to become a £300-a-night luxury hotel.

The developers who own the row of six brick townhouses in Sun Street, near Liverpool Street station, said its future will be secured as a 41-room hotel opening in 2020.

The unlisted terrace was designed in 1810 by George Dance the Younger — best known as the architect of Newgate Prison — but has been left vacant for at least 30 years.

Malaysian conglomerate AlloyMtd has spent around £10 million restoring the five-storey terrace as part of its £500 million One Crown Place apartments and offices development.

The as-yet-unnamed hotel will have a 100-seat restaurant in a covered courtyard and a bar as well as a private members’ club. There will also be a deli open to the public. Double rooms will start from £295 a night.

Interiors are being designed by Marylebone-based Bowler James Brindley, whose other works include the duplex apartments at the top of the Nova building in Victoria and the chapel in the Hampstead Manor scheme.

Haydn Fentum, chief executive of operator Bespoke Hotels, said: “The development will be a stunning landmark for London, further galvanising an area that has developed remarkably in recent years, with the hotel a key ingredient within this.”

The terrace is a rare intact example of the work of one of London’s greatest 18th-century architects, whose other surviving buildings include Grade I listed All Hallows church on London Wall, John Wesley’s house in City Road, and part of the City of London Guildhall.

The houses were used as shops in the Sixties and Seventies.

The terrace, which was on the “At Risk” register of historic buildings, was refused a national listing by English Heritage in 1995 because of the scale of alterations to its interiors.

Ian Bayliss, co-founder of Bowler James Brindley, said: “The hotel itself is located within six original Georgian townhouses which have been much loved by local residents and workers for many years — the buildings have become a landmark for the area, so it has been a pleasure to be involved in restoring and bringing them back to their former glory, so they can be enjoyed to their full once again.”