Rex Hotel With Boundary Railings, Clarence Buildings (Terrace)

The Rex Hotel, originally a pair of houses, stands on the Esplanade in Weymouth and dates to around 1840. It was constructed for the Duke of Clarence. The building is characterised by its Portland stone ashlar facade and Flemish bond brickwork returns, topped with a slate mansard roof.

The exterior features three main storeys, an attic, and a basement, with six windows across the front. Dormers with 20th-century casements sit above original 12-pane sash windows, which are set within moulded stone architraves. A continuous stone sill band sits above a deep 15-pane section that opens to a balcony supported by cast-iron brackets, featuring a full-width scrolled wrought-iron balustrade that returns at the ends and centre. The ground floor has large 12-pane windows in channelled rustication, while the basement has three 6-pane windows and a pair of French doors, also in rusticated surrounds. The fourth bay on the ground floor has a pair of panelled doors with side-lights and fluted pilasters, a moulded transom, and a delicate patterned fanlight to a segmental head with channelled voussoirs. A moulded stone cornice runs along the building, and the blocking course is cut down in front of each dormer light. Gable ends are raised and coped, with one ashlar and one brick stack to the right. The rear elevation is partly cement-rendered, with a projecting section covered in asbestos-cement slate hanging, and a large brick extension. A 28-pane sash window is also present on the south side.

The interior layout, while appearing as 2 houses with differing boundary enclosures, is that of a grand residence, with two principal salons and a central lobby. A grand staircase is located to the left, rising under a fine elliptical rooflight with radial, lead-covered iron bars and a modillion cornice ceiling. The staircase is constructed from Portland stone with an open string, nosing treads, and a cast-iron balustrade. A second, service staircase is located directly behind the main stair, and features a concave, slate-hung wall facing the rooflight. The basement, now used as a restaurant, retains original wine racks.

Subsidiary features include a stone balustrade with four square piers and a gate to the area steps on the left side of the frontage, and original spearhead cast-iron railings returning to the entrance door and to a curved gate at the right-hand end. The building is a grand example of its type, with minimal alterations to the interior.