Royal Hotel

ROYAL HOTEL

Houses and shops, now public house. Includes section fronting onto Adam Street. Built in 1826 by Woodhead and Hurst of Doncaster for the Aire and Calder Navigation, with later 19th-century shop fronts and 20th-century alterations.

The building is constructed of brick laid in Flemish bond. Nos 5, 7 and 9 are colour-washed, while No 3 and the Adam Street frontage are stuccoed. Sandstone ashlar provides dressings throughout. The roof is Welsh slate.

The Aire Street frontage comprises a principal 3-storey, 5-bay section, with a 6th bay at the corner with Adam Street and a 7th bay facing Adam Street. Adjoining this is a lower 2-storey section to Adam Street with two first-floor windows.

On Aire Street, the left 4-bay section has bays 2 to 4 breaking forward. The main entrance is in the third bay, with an original ashlar Doric doorcase featuring attached columns carrying an entablature with modillioned cornice and hood. Late 19th-century shop fronts flank either side, with 20th-century infilling incorporating casements and a door to the left (No 9). Both shop fronts have wooden surrounds with ornate consoles bearing carved foliate and grapevine ornament, plain friezes with moulded cornices and hoods.

The first floor of the left bay has an original 12-pane sash with sill band beneath a rubbed-brick cambered arch. The advanced 3-bay section to the right contains later 19th-century 12-pane sashes in original openings above recessed aprons with ribbed pilasters carrying sills. The central window sits in an eared architrave, whilst the flanking windows are beneath rubbed-brick cambered arches.

The second floor has an original 6-pane sash with sill beneath a cambered arch in the first bay. The three bays to the right contain later 19th-century 6-pane sashes with sills, the central window in an eared architrave.

The 3-bay corner section to the right features a plinth and full-width shop front with a corner entrance containing a recessed door beneath a plain overlight. This is flanked by inserted 20th-century shop windows, with a further blocked window or former entrance to the right. The wooden surround has ornate consoles bearing carved acanthus and grapevine ornament, a plain frieze, bracketed cornice and hood. A first-floor sill band runs across the section. The first floor has a 12-pane sash at the corner, flanked by a narrower 12-pane sash to the right and a blocked window to the left, all in eared and shouldered architraves. A short 12-pane second-floor sash at the corner is flanked by blocked windows, all with sills and similar architraves to the first floor. A moulded corniced wooden gutter runs throughout, with a rendered blocking course to the corner section and the three advanced bays to the left. The corner section has a round hipped roof with a shortened stack straddling the ridge and bearing an ashlar band.

The lower adjoining section to the right has a wide 19th-century shop front to the left with central inserted 20th-century windows flanked by entrances with panelled doors. The wooden surrounds have carved consoles bearing grapevine and shell ornament, plain friezes, moulded cornices and hoods. The 2-bay section to the right is flanked by narrow pilaster strips. It has a pair of short ground-floor windows comprising a 4-pane sash to the left and a 20th-century 2-light casement to the right, in original surrounds with sills and eared and shouldered architraves. A pair of later 19th-century 4-pane first-floor sashes with sills and similar architraves is above. A moulded cornice and coped parapet finish this section, with a corniced ridge stack and roof stack.

The interior of the Aire Street range features a moulded cornice and round-headed openings with archivolts to the entrance hall. An open-well staircase to the rear has a wreathed handrail and plain balusters, though the interior has not been fully investigated.

The building was part of the original planned port settlement beside Goole Docks. Aire Street was the main commercial street of this development.