The Royal Hotel

The Royal Hotel is a hotel built in 1838 for John Brown, a brewer from Tring, in partnership with The London and Birmingham Railway Company. The south wing was rebuilt in brick in the 1860s for Lord Lonsdale and underwent further modifications in 1937. The building features stuccoed brick, painted brick on the west end facing the yard, and yellow stock brick on the south wing. It has hipped slate roofs with plastered soffits and wide overhangs.

This large, square building is three stories above a cellar and faces north, while the south wing is two stories. The symmetrical north front is lined with ashlar, featuring a plinth and regularly-spaced pilasters at the corners and flanking the central porch bay. The facade has three windows wide, with lower second-storey windows and end chimneys. The recessed sash windows have moulded surrounds and distinctive margin lights with a central division and vertical sub-divisions.

There is a large square open porch with pilasters and fluted wooden columns, low square bases, abaci, and a full entablature topped with a simple decorative cast-iron balustrade. The porch has steps and margin light glazing for the double doors, along with a rectangular fanlight. A similar rectangular open porch with a balustrade is located at the entrance in the south-east angle of the rear wing. The east end facing the station features plinth corner pilasters and a central sash window on each floor, while the south wing has ten recessed sash windows. Originally named The Harcourt Arms, the hotel changed its name between 1845 and 1851. The former stables on the south and west sides of the courtyard to the west of the hotel are not included in this listing.