Gordon Campbell Gray is a charismatic and quintessentially British but unashamedly Beirut-adoring gentleman who made a somewhat unorthodox choice of location for his newest boutique hotel.
Art-lover, budding chocolatier, humanitarian and entrepreneur Gordon is obviously something of an adventurer. With his patent love of new challenges, it is easy to imagine him (were he not currently indulging in his love of designing hotel concepts) scaling mountains or discovering new continents. In a way, the process of creating Le Gray Beirut was just such an adventure. And along the way, he fell in love with Lebanon, its people, its culture and history and the pulsing enthusiasm for life that the Lebanese demonstrate. So much so that he has moved to Beirut from the UK.
"It's been a real adventure, moving to Beirut," he says in his soft, barely discernable Scottish accent. "Initially, everyone said ‘Beirut? Are you mad? Why are you going to Beirut?' but I love it. I'm even moving my design office there. Basically I can do the work anywhere and I'd rather be based in Beirut than almost anywhere. I love London − I've always loved London − but I'd rather be in Beirut any day. There's a great sense of fun, people love their friends and there's a great sense of warmth and pride. Leaning back in his armchair, legs suavely crossed and sipping on his coffee, he continues the tale. "I was approached by some Lebanese guests in One Aldwych (one of his London hotels) and they asked if I'd ever consider doing something similar in Beirut. Well I'd been to Beirut but that was eight years before and it was pretty rough. Solidere was all bombed out, there were soldiers everywhere and I was the only guest at the hotel, so I didn't find it very agreeable. It wasn't our best weekend but it was interesting." He gives a wry grin.
The question obviously piqued his natural inquisitiveness. "They asked me on the Friday and I'm a bit of a buccaneer so by Monday I was on my way to Beirut and by the following Friday we'd signed. It was that simple. And luckily I'm not somebody who wants feasibility studies - I just follow my heart. One hundred per cent. "I saw that Beirut had been utterly restored around the Solidere area, and they'd done it beautifully. Fantastic, fantastic work. And the site where Le Gray is was the best so I thought why not?"As far as the design of Le Gray is concerned, he is filled with typical enthusiasm and zest, both for what has been achieved so far, and for future plans, which sound equally ambitious. The building was created by famous architect Kevin Dash and the interiors are another collaboration between Gordon and London-based designer Mary Fox Linton, whose signature style has been described as ‘groovy grand'. "Design-wise Mary and I have always worked together and what I don't like is trendy and modern. I wanted the hotel to be like a modern classic. I wanted it ultimately to be comfortable."
And it certainly is. Comfort and highly individualistic art are the highlights of this hotel. Guests are ushered onto a calming reception lobby, decorated in cool tones, with curvaceous wood-clad walls. One wall is entirely wrapped in an enormous pale grey etched glass sheet laser-cut with garlands of flowers. At night this is lit from behind, an artful touch throwing the trailing blossoms into relief and making it visible even from outside the glass-fronted hotel. A stylised multi-coloured elephant by renowned local architect, sculptor and painter Nadim Karam stands in lonely splendour at one end of the lobby, made of what appears at first glance to be M&Ms, but is in fact, layers of glass and plastic button-like overlapping discs.
From the eerily-silent glass elevators, guests swoosh upstairs to alight onto a glass floor and from there, over an amazingly thick and sound-deadening plush carpet and into one of the 75 suites. Comfort is the theme here, with more thick rugs and comfortable sofas placed so guests can gaze out over the panoramic views of the Mediterranean and the hills of Mount Lebanon, or the historical Martyrs' Square and chic Weygand Street. Each room, and indeed the public spaces in the hotel, boasts pieces of contemporary art, another of Gordon's loves.
"One of my great passions is collecting contemporary art, and putting the art together for the hotel was the best fun for me, because I went to Havana and Damascus and I went everywhere collecting it," he says. There are in fact over 500 pieces of art in total.
Part of this hotel's charm is that it has been designed with very few straight lines. Central to the hotel is a vast tubular atrium stretching from ground floor to roof and embellished with an enormous eye-catching crystal chandelier. Guests can climb a curving wooden staircase looking out to the atrium to reach ThreeSixty, the circular glass-walled cocktail bar whose low lighting, gently glowing tables, and fabulous views instil an ultra-chic yet cosy atmosphere.
And there is apparently more of this yet to come. "The hotel has been so well-received that we're extending it. We're putting in a big Asian restaurant, a screening room, an indoor swimming pool, extending the spa and putting in ice rooms and mud rooms. It's going to be quite fun and we're putting in a bigger lobby and I'm doing an art gallery café, so finally after all these years I'm going to have my own gallery." He pauses for breath, his face beaming with enthusiasm.
"I'm really excited because I like to do new things. I'm doing a book on Beirut and I have a fantastic photographer friend who is doing the photography - it'll cover everything from sexy people to a gateway or a door to a crumbling building to going to Bourj Hammoud and seeing an old jewellers shop - it's really Beirut through my eyes. It'll be quite designy and fun. If it's something new I get really excited - I can't keep doing the same thing. But perhaps more than anything I'm a frustrated chocolatier! I want to have my own chocolate shop. More than anything in the world." No prizes for guessing where it will be located!
