Back at the Palace to measure up. In the middle of reception, under the stained glass dome, there is a large grey hoarding, and whatever it is hiding stays hidden.
I measured panels and photographed everything else: the Refuge Assurance lettering over the entrance, the monogram worked into the iron gates, the marble floor, the calla lilies on the desk. The building was an insurance headquarters before it was a hotel, and the word Refuge is carved into it more than once. The new bar is taking its name back off the walls.
The job for now: make this grey box worth looking at until it can come down.
Part of The Palace Hotel Commission.