the history of the Savoy goes back to at least 1246 when the land was gifted to Count Peter of Savoy by King Henry III, to build his Savoy Palace next to the river Thames.
The name Sabaudia evolved into Savoy or Savoie. Count Peter was the maternal uncle of Eleanor of Provence, Queen Consort to Henry III and he had travelled with her to London. When the count died the land was passed back to the Monarch.
In the mid 14thC, a royal palace built on the site was destroyed shortly afterwards by The Peasant’s Revolt in 1381.
In 1512 Henry VII used the last surviving building and founded a hospital for 100 homeless men, with the rent for the land being three barbed arrows for all services, paid annually to the Exchequer. Never being rich it was dissolved in 1702 and in 1864 all but the chapel were burned down.
In 1889, Richard d’Oyley Carte built the Savoy Hotel on this site, payed for by the success of his production of the “Mikado”
Lavish parties took place in the Savoy and in 1905 an American millionaire had the courtyard flooded to the depth of a metre and held a Venetian style party. He had his guests carried around in a silk-lined gondola and a five foot cake was carried by a baby elephant.
For over a hundred years horses and cars have entered the Savoy courtyard on the right and left on the right handside of the driveway. This was primarily due to the construction of the court and made it easier for the drivers…”a turning circle”
The Savoy was the first hotel to have electric light, ensuite bathrooms, telephones in the rooms and for “ascending rooms” which we know as electric lifts.
Elisabeth Yates.
Sources:
Savoy Hotel History Site.
cityoflondonhistory 