 The building is neoclassical in the Louis XVI manner , built during the Belle Époque to resemble a stylish Parisian block of flats , over arcades that consciously evoked the Rue de Rivoli . Its architects were Charles Mewès , who had previously designed Ritz 's Hôtel Ritz Paris , and Arthur Davis , with engineering collaboration by the Swedish engineer Sven Bylander . It was one of the earliest substantial steel frame structures in London , the Savoy Hotel extension of 1903 @-@ 04 being the first in the capital . Many of the materials used in the construction of the hotel were US @-@ made . The initial fees for suites ranged from 1 1 / 2 guineas to 3 1 / 2 guineas . 
