Its oak paneling is rectory English; the marble in its bathrooms sometimes outdoes the tombstones of the Medici; and the salutes of the older bellhops seem imported from Windsor Castle.

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A glassy mountain range of exposed offices; on a clear day you can look through the windows and see as many as 6,000 coffee breaks at once.

194

The guests are often in key with the décor: beautifully preserved, highly pedigreed and finely burnished specimens of the fin de siècle.

187