Imperial Hotel

The Imperial Hotel, largely dating to 1902, incorporates an earlier house from around 1800 at its western end. The building is a prominent feature of Taw Vale and contributes to the 19th-century riverside development near the Long Bridge.

The 1800 house is symmetrical, with two rooms wide, and the hotel was constructed around it and extending to the east, incorporating a large entrance hall and staircase. The hotel’s façade presents an asymmetrical but regular arrangement of windows, with a 2:3:2:10-window range. The building is constructed with smooth plastered walls, a natural slate roof with lead rolls, and stacks featuring red brick shafts with corbelled cornices. Deep eaves are supported by moulded brackets, and a brick eaves course runs along the top. A moulded string runs along the second-floor cill level.

The original house features a symmetrical design with a Doric porch, a moulded cornice with a central roundel, and a two-leaf small-pane glazed door. Ground-floor bay windows have rounded corners and are fitted with four-pane horned sashes. The moulded string above the bay windows originally served as the cornice of the house before an additional storey was added, featuring three matching sashes to the second storey. A wing to the left includes tall small-pane windows on the ground floor and six-over-one-pane sashes on the first floor, with four-pane sashes above.

To the right of the 1800 house is a one-bay projection topped with a tall French roof and wrought-iron railings. A two-storey flat-roofed entrance block projects forward, featuring a two-bay arcade on the ground floor, and a third arch on the return. This arcade is characterised by pilastered round-headed moulded arches with keyblocks. One opening is a doorway with a plain fanlight, while the other two are windows with plate glass. The first floor of the entrance block has ribbon windows and decorative iron railings.

The remainder of the hotel extends six bays, breaking forward to the right with a canted corner. Ground-floor windows are modern timber two-pane sashes, with two canted bays. A first-floor balcony, likely from 1902, is supported by cast-iron brackets. First-floor windows are mainly French, with high transoms, and have been re-glazed with plastic windows, each adorned with a cornice, some on consoles. Second-floor windows are two and four-pane sashes.

Inside, a large open-well timber staircase leads to the entrance hall. The 1800 house has been altered, with a ground-floor partition removed and two 1900 fireplaces installed. A painting indicates the 1800 house originally stood two storeys high with projecting front wings.