The Ocean Hotel Front Block

The Ocean Hotel, front block, is a hotel dating from 1938, designed by RWH Jones with reinforced concrete engineering by JL Kier and Co. It is constructed of reinforced concrete, plastered.

The front block is arranged in a concave curve and is symmetrical, with a central feature, ranges of five windows on either side, and wings of three windows. Steps lead up to a flat-arched central entrance flanked by curved walls, partly of glass and partly decorated with banded rustication, all under a cantilevered semicircular canopy. Above the entrance, the central feature has a two-storey bay window with a tripartite window containing original horizontal glazing, and one-window wings to either side. The central part steps up above the parapet. Flat-arched windows are visible in the side ranges, with altered glazing to the first and second floors. A deep storey band separates the ground and first floors. The wings feature porthole windows beneath the principal ground-floor windows, and an architrave panel framing the first- and second-floor windows. The third floor of the wings is blank, with brackets for flagpoles. The rear elevation presents five separate wings fanning out southwards from the main front.

The interior features a vestibule with an original cantilevered spiral staircase serving three floors. The restaurant retains its original plan, although the decorative treatment of the south-facing walls has been altered, likely early on, to include low-relief painted plaster figures.

To the south, behind and below the main block, are six linked dormitory blocks, three on either side of swimming and paddling pools. These have been raised in height, and the pools have been covered over. Some original glazing remains in the dormitory blocks, but they are not considered of special architectural or historic interest.