Bespoke Gas Fireplace at The Standard Hotel London
A Bespoke Retro Gas Fireplace for The Standard Hotel London
When The Standard London wanted a fireplace for its Library Lounge, an off-the-shelf design was never going to fit the brief.
The hotel wanted a distinctive retro gas fire with the character of a piece from another era. Drawing on a 1960s New York aesthetic, the fireplace needed to feel bold, individual and completely at home within The Standard's richly layered interiors.
Modus was commissioned to create a bespoke solution.
The result is a striking forest green gas fireplace in which virtually every element, from the colour and detailing of the steel exterior to the burner within, was selected specifically for the hotel.
Designing a fire with its own identity
The Standard London occupies the former Camden Town Hall Annex, a 1974 Brutalist building in King's Cross. Its transformation into The Standard's first hotel outside America deliberately embraced the character of the existing architecture while introducing bold colour, pattern, custom furniture and vintage references throughout.
The Library Lounge itself occupies the building's former public library, reimagined as an intimate, book-filled social space. The fireplace needed to belong within this distinctive environment rather than feel like a product that had simply been added to it.
The answer was a bespoke retro gas fire with a strong architectural presence and an unmistakable identity of its own.
Bespoke down to the burner
Its forest green steel exterior is perhaps the first thing you notice, but the customisation went considerably further. The colour, proportions, steelwork, detailing and even the type of gas burner were considered as part of the overall design.
This is an important distinction in genuinely bespoke fireplace design. Rather than taking a standard gas fire and changing its finish, Modus was able to consider the fireplace as a complete object, developing the different components together to achieve the particular aesthetic required by the hotel.
The result captures the character of a retro gas fireplace while providing a solution designed specifically for a contemporary luxury hospitality environment.
A focal point for the Library Lounge
Within hospitality interiors, fire has an ability to do something few other design elements can achieve.
It naturally draws people towards it. In a lounge, bar or restaurant, that makes the fireplace more than a source of warmth. It can become a gathering point, establish the atmosphere of a space and provide a visual anchor around which the wider interior is experienced.
At The Standard London, the forest green fireplace does exactly that. Its unusual colour, distinctive retro form and visible flame make it a true focal feature within the Library Lounge, while its bespoke design allows it to feel completely integrated into the character of the hotel.
When an off-the-shelf fireplace isn't enough
The Standard London is a good example of what bespoke fireplace design can mean in practice. Sometimes the challenge is technical. Sometimes it is architectural. And sometimes the brief is about creating something with such a particular visual identity that an existing fireplace simply will not work.
With almost 40 years of experience, Modus works with hotels, architects and interior designers to develop fireplaces around the requirements of individual spaces, customising everything from scale and configuration to materials, finishes and fire technology.
For The Standard London, that meant creating a forest green retro gas fireplace, bespoke down to the burner, for one of the hotel's most characterful spaces.
When the fireplace brief isn't ordinary, neither is the solution.
Take a look at other Modus hospitality projects here.
