Douglas House, Westminster

The first Douglas House opened in the former Guards Club on Brook Street, W1, either during or immediately after the Second World War as a leave centre for US servicemen. The building that housed the second club was originally a block of white stuccoed flats or townhouses built in the Victorian era as part of a Bayswater area real estate development. After the Air Force acquired the property, the Douglas House began operating on 2 May 1959. It was jointly named for Air Force Secretary James H. Douglas, Jr. and Lewis Williams Douglas, a former US ambassador to Great Britain.^[6] In 1960, in honour of the marriage of Princess Margaret and Anthony Armstrong Jones, the club attracted attention by offering free dinners on the royal wedding day, 6 May, to any serviceman named Tony who had a wife named Margaret.^[7] That same year, the Douglas House sponsored an Independence Day celebration in Battersea Gardens that attracted thousands of American servicemen and their families.^[8] In November 1960 the club hosted an all-night presidential election watch party.^[9] In late 1962 a five-piece London band called the Detours played several dates at the Douglas House nightclub. Later, after changing their name to The Who, the group went on to become of one Great Britain's most popular and successful rock bands.^[10][11] On 12 June 1963, Country and Western singer Jim Reeves also performed at the Douglas House.^[12] In 1970 the Douglas House was sold by Druce and Company to Adda Hotels, which later remodelled the property and then reopened it as the 188-room full-service Charles Dickens Hotel.^[13] In 1999, the property was acquired by Ryan Hotels for £16.9 million.^[14] Following further remodelling, it was operated as the Hyde Park Gresham Hotel until 2007 when it became the Park Inn Hotel. Presently, the property is known as the Lancaster Gate Hotel (not to be confused with the nearby Lancaster, London).

A blue plaque, attached to the Leinster Terrace end of the building in 1977, commemorates American author Bret Harte, who resided and died at 74 Lancaster Gate in 1902.^{[citation needed]}