Brown's Hotel

Alexander Graham Bell made the first telephone call in Britain from Brown's in 1876, which gives the hotel a claim to technological history that most Mayfair establishments can't match. Rudyard Kipling was a regular. Agatha Christie set At Bertram's Hotel here. The hotel was founded in 1837 by Lord Byron's former valet, James Brown — a man who had evidently learned a thing or two about catering to demanding guests during his years in service. The interior still has the feel of an English country house that happens to be on Albemarle Street. 115 rooms, Rocco Forte Hotels, and the kind of understatement that only the truly confident can pull off.