Empire Hotel

Empire Hotel

Hotel, now apartments. Built 1900-1901 by Major CE Davis for hotelier Alfred Holland. The building was restored and converted to residential use in 1996.

The hotel is constructed with limestone ashlar cladding over an internal steel frame, with roofs of Bridgwater tiles and lead. It forms a large L-shaped block with a distinctive octagonal corner tower. The building is clad in a Free Renaissance exterior and occupies a prominent position in the city centre.

The structure comprises six main storeys with attics and a double-depth basement. The corner tower rises to seven storeys. The Orange Grove frontage extends for eight bays, while the east (river) front has nine bays with a further canted bay at the corner. The ground floor is particularly tall, featuring mullion and transom windows and a decorative cast iron canopy marking the main entrance, which is inscribed with 'EMPIRE HOTEL'. A five-bay conservatory was added to the left of the entrance in 1996.

The first floor contains three-light mullion and transom windows with a four-bay loggia across the centre, featuring balustraded balconies. The second floor has pedimented windows. The third and fourth floors display plain three-light mullion and transom windows. Heavy cornices divide each floor, with strip pilasters positioned between windows. The sixth floor presents a notably varied roofline with paired gables to the left, enriched with decorative plasterwork. The central bays feature a large shaped gable with six single-light windows separated by pilasters, and two further windows in the attic storey above. This gable was originally crowned by a ball finial. The corner tower's faces are each lit by two-light mullion and transom windows, with upper floors featuring Baroque columns supporting block entablatures only. A parapet runs around the tower; Jacobean filigree spikes have been removed. The east front displays another large shaped gable and a plain but double-sized gable, also enriched with decorative plasterwork. A single-storey kitchen range stands in the angle of the L-plan. The medieval Eastgate is attached to the north side.

The basement contains extensive structural steelwork by the Glengarnock Company, comprising rolled steel joists on cast iron columns that span numerous complex corners of the site. A boiler room houses two original heating boilers dated 1901.

The public rooms on the ground floor remain largely unaltered except for decorative changes. The Dining Room is executed in a subdued Greek manner, with two marbled Ionic columns, Greek architraves, and fireplace surrounds with over-mantels. The Entrance Hall features two Corinthian columns, a coffered ceiling, and a French Renaissance-style fireplace. The original reception desk and revolving doors are stored in the basement. A Jacobean-style staircase with fine joinery and Rococo plasterwork rises the full height of the building. The Drawing Room and Bars retain much of their original joinery and plasterwork. The first floor contains grand suites that preserve original joinery and fireplaces; original bathroom fittings are held in the basement. The bedroom floors above are plainer in character but remain substantially unaltered. The building demonstrates remarkable survival of the original design and planning of a grand turn-of-the-century hotel, with the purpose of almost every room still recognisable. The interior was only inspected on the ground floor on this occasion, though a full inspection was made at the time of listing.

The hotel represented a major development that significantly altered the scale and appearance of the city centre, employing new construction techniques. It was requisitioned by the Navy in 1939 and returned to Bath City Council only in 1989. The building was subsequently converted into retirement flats above commercial premises on the ground floor. The basement underwent considerable alteration and the old kitchen was demolished. The Empire Hotel now forms an integral part of the city centre and possesses strong group value with surrounding listed buildings, several of which were also designed by Major Davis, the Bath City Architect.