The St Martins Lane Hotel started life in the 1960s as an office building designed by Richard Seifert.  It was later converted into a hotel and then, it underwent a rather radical and elegant transformation into the hotel you see today.  The "culturetrip" website says that, ".. designed by Philippe Starck, (the St Martins Lane) rejects branded style in favour of innovative features and a new kind of chic elegance. .... St Martins Lane offers guests traditional luxury with a contemporary twist. With its emphasis on colour and avant-garde design, we look at 7 cultural reasons why you should stay at this inner-city haven. .... Aficionados of interior design will be well acquainted with the work of French designer Philippe Starck. Rejecting the homogeneity that has become associated with brand hotels, Starck’s fluid collision of styles and aesthetic genres produces an ‘anti-brand’ space, unpretentiously refusing to comply with trends or passing fads."