Imperial Hotel and associated buildings

Imperial Hotel and Associated Buildings

The Imperial Hotel forms the centrepiece of a curving range of nine buildings, comprising Nos. 15-41 (odd) Station Road. Built in red brick with decorative timber framing and a clay tile roof, the complex occupies a prominent corner site and represents a richly ornamented Domestic Revival composition in the 'Old English' manner of Richard Norman Shaw, featuring 'Jacobethan' ornament and decorative half-timbering contrasting with the bright red brick of the main structure.

The hotel itself is of double width and rises to four storeys beneath a broad triangular gable with decorative barge-boards and timber framing, crowned by a terracotta dragon finial. The gable is flanked by two massive ridged brick chimney stacks, and its upper section is jettied out over an oriel on the floor below. On the first floor are two polygonal bays faced with terracotta bas-relief panels depicting grotesque figures, with a balcony framed by arches supported on shaped balusters between them. The ground floor has polygonal bays flanking the central entrance, which is deeply recessed within a porch framed by massive scroll-topped piers clad in grey granite and larvikite. The right-hand pier bears the architect's name. The porch recess features a grey marble dado, a guilloche frieze, and a wrought-iron scrollwork panel bearing the hotel's name. A flight of steps leads up to oak main doors with bevelled glass panels and raised and fluted pilasters; a smaller hatch to the right, presumably for off sales, is also present.

The hotel's central hallway and stair are flanked by the former bar and lounge, with a large function room behind and bedrooms on the upper floors.

The flanking ranges comprise nine units in total, with taller gabled bays of three storeys alternating with lower two-and-a-half-storey elements. These have ground-floor shops and domestic accommodation above. Like the central block, they feature much decorative timberwork and an array of tall ridged stacks. The upper floors of the gabled bays are jettied out on curved sandstone brackets over projecting oriels. The far left-hand unit, No. 15, returns to Queen Street and has a corner cupola topped with a weathervane. Most ground-floor shop-fronts survive, though some have been altered; they have curved transoms with small square lights above and panelled stall-risers below. The doors have shaped glazed openings and scrollwork decoration, with flanking piers faced in purple glazed brick. The rear elevations of both the hotel and the outer ranges are of plain red brick without ornament.

The hotel entrance opens into a lobby area with a mosaic floor and a guilloche frieze. Doors with heavily moulded architraves open left and right into the bar and the former lounge, both areas much altered with some walls knocked through. Steps and an archway lead through to the principal stair, an elaborately carved mahogany structure with twisted balusters and huge tapering newels crowned by acanthus-leaf finials. Behind is a large room running the full width of the building, once presumably a dining room or ballroom, with pilastered walls and a deeply coved ceiling; an archway to the rear must once have opened into a conservatory, now demolished. The upper floor interiors and those of the outer ranges are utilitarian and extensively altered, rendering these parts of the interior not of special interest.