“When I die, I don’t want to go to heaven,” said Spencer Tracy in 1972. “I want to go to Claridge’s.” London has other grand hotels, but none compare to Claridge’s, famed for its Art Deco opulence and hyper-attentive service. A fixture of international high society for over two centuries, it has hosted princes, potentates, politicians, and pop stars from Winston Churchill to Lady Gaga.

The current hotel, a stately hulk of russet brick and stone, dates from 1898, when its original premises in Mayfair were rebuilt by then-owner theatrical impresario Richard D’Oyly Carte. His architect, C. W. Stephens, also designed Harrods, London’s most famous department store. During the 1920s, keeping pace with the Jazz Age, the interiors were remodeled in a sleekly luscious Art Deco style that became Claridge’s signature. Its present owner is the Maybourne Hotel Group, which also has Mayfair neighbor the Connaught among its portfolio of deluxe establishments.