Great Western Hotel

TQ 2681 SE CITY OF WESTMINSTER PRAED STREET, W2 52/2 (north-west side) 1.2.74 Great Western Hotel. GV II Hotel. 1851-3, opened 1854, altered 1933-6. By P C Hardwick for Great Western Railway. Brick, stuccoed except ground floor and 1st floor of centre bays which are refaced in stone. Welsh slate roof. French Second Empire style. Four storeys, attic to 7-bay centre with breaks forward, further breakforward of 5 bays under pediment. 7-bay ranges to either side with projecting 2-bay square angle towers of 6 storeys. Channelled angle pilasters. Ground and 1st floor of centre refenestrated, otherwise sashes in eared architraves. Pulvinated friezes and pediments to 1st floor windows. 3rd floor sill band. Modillion cornice with drops to central range. Pediment with sculpted figures of Peace, Plenty, Science and Industry by John Thomas. Steep pavilion roof, pedimented dormers above attic, otherwise C20 dormers. Ogee roofs to towers with pierced parapets. The first of the large purpose-built hotels in London. The Railway Heritage of Britain G Biddle and o S Nock, 1983, pp 213-5. Great Western Architecture, A Vaughan, 1977, pp 95-129

Listing NGR: TQ2666681229