Colchester Institute Main Building

Hotel built 1892-97 by architects A.J. Gale and N.T. Farthing of Smith, Son and Gale, commissioned by Henry Grant. Originally known as the Grand Hotel. Converted to a teacher training college in 1950. The building employs steel box frame construction with red brick curtain walls and machine tile roofs.

The east front presents three storeys with a dormer attic and a 19-window range. The composition is symmetrical, featuring six full-height projections: single polygonal turrets at the north and south ends; two three-window range bays with shaped gables within these turrets; and two central canted window bays. The four central projections are separated by single-window bays. Horizontal rendered bands decorated with strapwork pargeting, covering the rolled steel joists, divide the facade at floor levels, though many pargeted panels have been lost. The ground floor has 9/1 horned sashes, the next two floors have 4/1 or 6/1 sashes, and the three pedimented dormers have 3/1 sashes. All windows on the lower two floors have tapering sash hoods. A central semi-circular porch with two pairs of unfluted Doric columns supports double half-glazed doors beneath an overlight with 4:8:4 panes. Cast-iron balconies run between projections on the first and second floors. Four transverse stacks sit on the front roof slope with additional stacks at oblique angles to the north and south ends.

The south front is asymmetrical but retains similar detailing: a nine-window range comprising a canted bay to the west, a projecting three-window range bay right of centre, and the shared south-east corner turret. Two window bays separate the western two elements and contain double half-glazed doors. A single-storey extension was added to the west around 1920. The north front follows a similar design to the south front. A ballroom was added to the rear in 1920: two storeys with a seven-window range to the north front. The ground floor has three tripartite 1/1 horned sashes under segmental heads and the first floor has three twin plus one single 1/1 horned sashes also under segmental heads. The south front of the ballroom is similar but with four blocked tripartite sashes to the ground floor.

The entrance lobby features dado panelling and two strapwork panels. The outer foyer has high dado panelling containing two paintings by T & G Temple dated 1897, one depicting St Osyth's Priory on the north wall and the other the Ship Inn at Great Clacton on the south wall. A very elaborate timber chimneypiece in Jacobean style stands with an overmantel in two tiers defined by tapering columns and strapwork cresting. Delft tiles surround the fire. The inner foyer, the former lounge, contains portcullis grilles set into three four-centred arches. An Italian marble floor and ribbed ceiling complete this space. North-east and south-west glazed doors have shaped and pedimented surrounds.

The main staircase to the north is an open triangular but irregular stairwell with a closed panelled string. Fluted square section newel posts have moulded caps; upper newels carry turned drop pendants. A moulded handrail is supported by tapering square moulded balusters. Staircase windows contain stained glass. A Waygood-Otis passenger lift by the staircase retains its original gondola with inlaid teak veneer.

The drawing room, north of the entrance, contains identical timber chimneypieces at the north and south ends. Each features a central overmantel mirror with fluted and arched niches either side, all beneath an elevated swept broken pediment. The mantel shelf apron and panelled side jambs display carved acanthus and foliate decoration. A plaster ceiling in six rectangular panels separated by deep ribs features late 17th-century style decoration with rectangular fields, inset D ends, and foliage. Three entrance doorways with pediments rise over shaped aprons.

The dining room, south of the entrance, has an irregular plan and two timber chimneypieces. The northern chimneypiece retains its overmantel with panelled side jambs displaying foliate scrolls below a fluted upper section. A panelled cornice with foliate scrolls and moulded mantel front frames an overmantel with semi-circular and arched niches flanking a rectangular mirror. Egg and dart and gadrooned cornice details and moulded caps with obelisks decorate this feature. The plaster ceiling contains two rectangular panels and three triangular ones separated by deep ribs, decorated with geometric motifs and foliate circular bosses. A Lincrusta dado with linenfold pattern lines the walls.

The 1920 ballroom is supported by rolled steel joists on piers with mirrors. Panelled plaster walls enclose the space. Gentlemen's and ladies toilets sit at the east end. An extensive basement contains a tiled former kitchen at the south end, where basement passages reveal lengths of exposed steel frame.

The first floor includes a north-east corner room with high large-framed dado panelling and an arched niche on fluted piers to the north and south. The southern pier contains a fireplace with egg and dart cornice, a mirror overmantel and hood on scrolled brackets.

The roof employs conventional timber construction with principals, secondaries and one tier of through purlins.

Historically, the Grand Hotel represents the earliest fully-formed steel-framed construction discovered in an enclosed building in England to date. While fully-formed steel-framed construction in an enclosed building is normally considered to begin with the Ritz Hotel in London (1903-06 by Mewes and Davis), and while the Savoy Hotel of 1888 (altered 1896) used steel roof and ceiling joists as a fire-proof measure with more extensive constructional steel prohibited until the London Building Act of 1909, the Grand Hotel employs a complete and coherent structural steel system predating both. Many factory and utilitarian buildings from 1875-1890 used steel in a more modest way, but none have demonstrated the comprehensiveness found here.