The Grand Hotel

The Grand Hotel is a substantial hotel dating from 1864-9, designed by Foster and Wood. It is constructed of limestone ashlar with external and lateral stacks, and has a roof that is not visible. The building is rectangular in plan and arranged over five storeys, an attic, and a double basement, with a seven-window front and a splayed corner on the left-hand side. The architectural style is Italianate Renaissance.

The symmetrical front features enriched sill bands with acanthus motifs on the second and third floors, a frieze below an open eaves gallery on the fourth floor, a deep bracketed timber cornice, and a 20th-century attic storey. The ground floor is articulated by square piers with coved capitals and volute brackets, now containing mid-20th century glazing and double plate-glass doors. Original features include cast-iron reproduction lamps with spherical glass globes and cast-iron railing with leaf and flower motifs. The first floor has tall semicircular-arched windows, with a taller central window featuring a hood mould of palmettes and a coffered soffit. Upper floors have pilaster jambs, semicircular arches with medallions in the spandrels on the second floor, and flat-headed windows on the third. Plate-glass sashes are found throughout. The fourth-floor gallery is supported by columns with foliate capitals, separated by panelled sections, and sits below a deep cornice with paterae and square panels. A plain attic sits above.

The left return has an ashlar stack and a one-window ashlar section, with brickwork and rendered ground floor elsewhere. Internally, the hotel has been extensively altered and refurbished, although moulded cornices survive. A central reception room has a black and white marble floor and a glazed ceiling, now covered over. The ballroom features fluted Ionic pilasters and a coved ceiling. Extensive brick-vaulted basements are present on two levels, containing a 14th-century well towards the rear. Originally, the ground floor contained shops accessed by a flight of steps; the former entrance featured a lion in the fanlight. The building is L-shaped and contains a former marble-floored room with a glazed wall overlooking the graveyard of Christ Church. Carriage access was provided from the left-hand return to the rear stables, which included a carriage turntable. Originally the roof was pitched with ridge stacks. The front facade is notable for its Florentine-style eaves balcony.