Grand Hotel

The Grand Hotel is a hotel built in 1899, designed by J. Garry. It features red engineering brick with rich, moulded terracotta dressings and a Welsh slate roof adorned with wrought-iron crestings. The main entrance front is three storeys tall, with an attic and basement, and consists of seven wide bays, most of which contain two windows.

At the center, there is a prostyle quasi-Tuscan porch with egg-and-dart mouldings leading to a round-arched doorway that has a radial fanlight. The doorway is framed by deep terracotta voussoirs that alternate with gauged brick and a mask key. Above the entrance, there is a projecting window with quadrant sides, and paired windows below it lead to a terracotta and iron oriel balcony. The central tower features a tall near-pyramidal roof with an octagonal glazed chamber and a flagstaff on top. The flanking bays are recessed and arcaded on the first floor, while bays two and six have two-storey square projections.

Although some glazing has been modernised, all windows are surrounded by rich terracotta with mouldings and sculpture. The first-floor entablature has a swag frieze, and there is a cill string on the second floor. The top entablature features a dentil cornice, and the mansard roof has twelve square-headed dormers, with an oculus above in the end pavilions. A curved area wall with a terracotta balustrade complements the design.

The hotel has a seven-bay return to Victoria Road, which is similar in style but plainer and symmetrical with a central entrance. Inside, ornamental plasterwork dated 1900 by F.W. Doyle Jones can be seen over the passage arches, along with art nouveau motifs on the dado of the staircase, which features a large landing window with painted glass.