The Natrix Dance Hall

Location Details

Address:	Clerkenwell, West End, London, England, United Kingdom
Coordinates:	D,2 - 7 (NW)
Owner:	Wolfgang Montague
Type:	Entertainment & Residence
Wealth:	Comfortable ($$$)

Description

The Restaurant & Club

Formerly a restaurant and bar alone since 1850, this building has been remodeled and updated to also include a large dance floor and bandstand and stage. The restaurant still lives in that the white linen draped round tables positioned around the dance floor are catered to the best Saltimbocca dishes in England. The other regular Italian food fare is also deliciously found on the menus in the center of the table that are crystal plaques engraved and frosted so the lettering sparkles in the dim light making the script easier to read. Silver is used liberal in the decoration, the table legs, the chair legs and backs besides the green tapestry cushions are all silver. The styling beyond that is all very modern art deco. Greens and silvers prevailing. The live orchestra always always has a finger on the pulse of the crowd, they pick up tempo or slow things down with amazing empathy.

The VIP (Wizarding World Only) Lounge

The VIP Lounge is much more whimsical looking than the art deco Muggle design and decore downstairs. The goon at the top of the stairs acting as a bouncer probably has troll blood in him. Several House-elves looking extremely dapper in tailored to fit pinstripe suits serve the VIPs, who really unknownst to those downstairs are really just the wizards and witches clientele. The set up is very similar to that downstairs, though there is more booth seating upstairs than down. The walls of the lounge are enchanted one-way walls, where those inside can see out, but not the other way around. The stage is however much smaller upstairs than the one downstairs as all that's on this stage is a single 'microphone', and a large music box on a pedestal besides the mic. A spotlight that can change in a myriad of colors and patterns shines down on the center of the small stage. The light reflecting off of the shiny chrome megaphone.

Wolfgang's Office

There are certain rooms that, when entered, seem to amplify their contents and make everything in them seem larger than life. This is one of those. In reality its dimensions are small-to-average for an office, but the eclectic art-deco furnishings (not to mention the burnished-silver wallpaper) lend it the atmosphere of a throne room.

Everything here rebels against post-War humbleness that is typical of most of English decor: at the front of the room squat two chairs, armless and almost booth-like in their dimensions, with plush steel-gray seats and backrests. Their round wooden bases are polished to a sheen; curving black and silver stripes adorn their cushions. Between them is a short, circular wooden table with a square black base and four curving supports. The pale green carpeting is luxuriously thick and springy. In the back of the room is a desk that spans almost its entire width, monolithic of proportion and tastefully simple of design. Behind it is a tall leather executive's chair with a high back and wooden armrests carved in the semblance of snakes poised to strike. Behind that is a set of lofty glass-fronted shelves, short at the ends and tall in the middle. They draw attention to the center of the room and lend the desk an altar-like focus.

Wolfgang's Penthouse

Behind a hidden panel and up a flight of stairs from the Natrix's office, this swanky penthouse apartment is decorated with the same art deco sensibility as the room below, but far more lavishly. The stairs top out in the center of a wide circular room. The inner half of the circle covered in plush green carpet, the outer half in black and white marble tiles. A variety of eclectic modern statues on pedestals ring the room, along with silver-framed mirrors and modern paintings. In nearly every room there is a piano of some sort. A standing piano is the smaller rooms and a beautiful black grand piano with sexy curves and art deco designs on the legs and on the lid. On the carpet opposite the stairs is a seating area with several low-slung white Italian leather couches and armless chairs surrounding a circular mahogany table.

The curving walls are translucent glass, and through its milky-white surface the outline of the rooms beyond can be seen: a kitchen and bar with another small seating area, a smoking parlor with a billiards table, a large bathroom with a jacuzzi, and a bedroom dominated by a tall king-sized four-poster with a silver and rosewood frame. One five-meter segment of the glass wall is one-way transparent glass, offering a view of the night club's surroundings that opens on to a discreet balcony.