Ermin’s Hotel is a Grade II-listed Victorian building which was originally built as one of the early mansion blocks in London and converted into a hotel in 1899. The building is named after an ancient monastery that was said to have occupied the building prior to the 10th century. During the Second World War, the horse-shoe shaped mansion block was used as a meeting place for the British Intelligence Services – it is also where double agents Philby and MacLean met their Russian handlers.

The hotel now has a strong reputation for being used by the UK’s secret intelligence services (SIS or MI6). It was also used by St Ermin’s group of senior trade union leaders who met secretly each month at the hotel.

St Ermin’s hotel is located in the prestigious area of Westminster in London and is situated at the end of a tree-lined courtyard, which served as a carriageway and gardens for guests. Guests visiting the hotel enjoy a pleasant walk up to the entrance and are greeted by innovative interior design and sophistication.

IQ designed and installed two elegant bronze pivoting doors to the entrance of the hotel to create a striking entrance design as guests enter the building. The pivoting doors were designed with electronic automatic opening systems to create smooth opening doors as the guests walk up the entrance.

As guests walk through the bronze entrance doors there are two pivoting frameless glass doors which adjoin to two areas of fixed glass. These frameless glass elements were used to create a subtle glazing addition to the entrance hall without taking anything away from the historic design of the building.

The owners of the hotel have maintained the original designs of the interior, including intricate plasterwork by theatre designer J P Brigg’s. In 2010 the building went through a vast renovation; however, all the existing architectural designs were kept but given a ‘spruce’ to help brighten up the internal spaces. Therefore, frameless glass was used in this building as it is the perfect solution in areas where the existing aesthetics are not to be interrupted in any way, as the frameless glass offers no visual obstruction.