Location : Arakshan Road, Paharganj
Patron : Airlines Company
Airlines was an old hotel on Arakashan Road, Paharganj, in Art Deco style. Being quite close to the New Delhi Railway Station it was a perfect budget hotel for backpackers, especially the ones wanting to catch an early morning train. At the time of its establishment, hotels were few and Airlines became one of the first modern hotels in the city. It currently serves as a concept budget hotel realised to meet the needs of young travellers for leisure or business, after being renovated by UltraConfidentiel and is now known as Hotel Bloomrooms (chain of Hotels in New Delhi). Being a corner plot, a tripartite facade is seen where the corner marks an entrance to the hotel. The most striking Art Deco feature is the emphasis on the entrance done with a curved canopy, a vertical central column with a final end and flutes on the back wall along with eyelids and windows. Other features like curved elongated balconies with horizontal bands are still intact in the current version of the hotel. Also intact as original is the central courtyard with curving edges, balancing rooms on either side. One can see the features of the staircase seamlessly bending at the corners along with the continuous wooden railing. The railing details show the initials AP probably after the owners name. After speaking with the locals, we were told that the hotel owners are originally from Mumbai, but the Architects of Airlines are still unknown.
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Image Copyrights : Varun Shiv Kapur (Hotel Airlines), Rishi Kochhar x Deco In Delhi (Hotel Bloomrooms) Acknowledgements : Tom Welbury, Hotel Bloomrooms