The Grand Hotel

THE GRAND HOTEL

Hotel, 1862–4, designed by John Whichcord. The building stands on King's Road, Brighton.

EXTERIOR

The Grand Hotel is constructed of stucco with a roof of asbestos slate. The main block rises 7 to 9 storeys over a basement with dormers. The original central section spans 15 windows in width; contemporary buildings of lower height and 3-window range flank it on either side. The top 3 storeys of the western wing and much of the central section with its balconies were remade in fibreglass in 1985. The top 3 storeys of the western wing were added at that time.

The ground floor was originally fronted by a terrace, which remains but was re-roofed and enclosed around 1985. The western wing features a stuccoed porch with flat-arched entrance. The eastern wing displays 3 flat-arched windows with lion-head brackets and pendants between them.

All windows are flat-arched throughout. From the first to sixth floors, the facade is arranged in seven parts. The central section, spanning 3 windows, carries balconies supported on elaborate brackets with round and segmental arches. On either side are plain bays of 3-window range. Beyond these are shallow canted bays of 3-window range. All five of these parts have balconies; apart from the central section, the balconies are supported on brackets with console details and panels of elaborate scrolled wrought-iron work, except to the sixth floor which has simple replacement balusters.

Over the central and two flanking parts runs an ornate cornice with console brackets and squared paterae. The seventh floor above the central part is treated as a decorative gable with a Venetian window flanked by ornate consoles at the lower and upper parts, crowned by an oval medallion intertwined with dolphins. On either side are three dormers with pilasters and segmental pediments.

The outer canted bays terminate at the fifth floor. Above them, the sixth floor is flat; the seventh and eighth are treated as towers. The eighth floor features flat-arched windows set within a round-arched arcade with columns of pink polished granite and elaborate capitals between the windows; a modillion cornice runs above. The outer wings differ in treatment: the western wing has 2 canted bays and 8 storeys, its parapet terminating with the eighth storey of the main block; the eastern wing has 7 storeys with no bays and a medley of pediments and cornices to individual windows. All windows have late 20th-century glazing.

INTERIOR

The formerly enclosed entrance is flanked by stairs to the original terraces, featuring a cast-iron newel post, arabesque balustrades and wreathed brass rail. The round-arched entrance portal displays ornament on an enlarged scale: bay-leaf ornament to the architrave, a cartouche in place of the keystone, panelled pilasters to either side with foliage ornament in the panels, festoons and drops to spandrels and brackets, an egg-and-dart cornice, and foliage ornament to the soffit of the balcony.

The principal rooms of the ground floor are arranged axially: the staircase hall to the north, restaurants to the east, and the present lounge to the west. A vestibule to the south is flanked by Corinthian scagliola columns where passages from the three other rooms cross. The ceilings are coved, panelled and decorated with elaborate plasterwork in the vestibule, restaurants and lounge. The vestibule features Ionic antae and pilasters; the first restaurant displays Corinthian scagliola columns and pilasters. The second restaurant to the west has a decorative ceiling more French in taste than the rest, which is the principal feature of interest.

The staircase hall contains an open-well staircase with stairs to the east and west sides and galleries to the north and south. A domed toplight rises above the seventh floor, rebuilt in 1985. The stairs and galleries are carried on slim cast-iron columns with fluting and palm-leaf capitals, supporting metal beams with decorative openwork which carry the galleries and the slope of the stairs. The stairs themselves have a curtail step, elaborate cast-iron newel, arabesque balusters and wreathed and moulded mahogany rail with carved foliage decoration at the wreath. The present lift entrances occupy the former lift-lobby entrances. A flat-arched 3-bay arcade to the north features bold console brackets modelled as goats' heads and foxes. A similar arcade on the north galleries above is formed from two Corinthian scagliola columns and elaborate console brackets modelled as owls. Walls to the stairs and galleries are panelled in plaster with round-arched aedicules, windows and lift-entrances, all with elaborate architraves and some with cornices. The combination of metalwork construction and pronounced, partially conventionalised ornament in the staircase demonstrates the influence of Owen Jones and design reform of the 1850s.

The Albert Room at the north-east corner of the ground floor, now enlarged, has a coved and panelled ceiling with decorative plasterwork.

HISTORICAL NOTE

When opened in 1864, the Grand Hotel was the tallest building in Brighton and by far the largest hotel, with 150 rooms. Together with John Whichcord's Clarence Hotel at Dover (1863) and the Grand Hotel at Scarborough (1862–7), it introduced the scale and luxury of London's mid-Victorian railway hotels to seaside resorts. The hotel became famous following an attempt by the Irish Republican Army on 12 October 1984 to assassinate the Prime Minister and members of the Cabinet with a 25-pound bomb placed in room 629. The principal ground-floor rooms in front of the staircase were severely damaged by falling masonry on this occasion, and there was considerable reconstruction in 1985. However, some 19th-century columns, wall and ceiling details remain, and the staircase area is not greatly changed.