The hotel dates from the early 1970s when Piccadilly Estate Hotels Ltd. built it at 2 Wallenberg Place. It opened in 1973 and was originally called The Montcalm, named after the Marquis de Montcalm, the commander of the French forces defeated by the English in the struggle for possession of Canada in 1759. The link between this battle and the building is the Canadian province of Quebec, which had already lent its name to the original mews (Quebec Mews) at the rear of the building. However, the site's history dates back much farther, as suggested by the hotel's crescent-shaped Georgian façade, which, in agreeing to the hotel's construction, Westminster Council insisted should remain.