Imperial Hotel

Imperial Hotel

An hotel built in 1862–1863 to designs by Benjamin Bucknall, with a billiard room added in 1867 and further alterations made in 1924 and the later twentieth century.

The building is constructed of local oolitic limestone ashlar with exposed brick to the northern return, ashlar stacks, and plain clay tile roofs in bands of red and grey. Cast iron rainwater goods are fitted throughout.

The building is orientated north west–south east, with its long elevation facing south. It is positioned across the station yard from the railway tracks, running parallel to them. The constrained site means it is bounded to the north and east by buildings fronting Russell Street. Principal rooms are ranged along the southern side with a central stair hall, while the upper floors contain rooms accessed from a central corridor.

The exterior is of three storeys. The entrance elevation to the west comprises six bays, while the long southern elevation has fifteen bays. The building has deep hipped roofs covered in bands of red and grey clay tiles. Three very large rectangular ashlar stacks with integral square-section stone pots are set across the ridges at the western end, with two others rising from the eaves along the southern elevation. Stone guttering runs around both elevations, carried on moulded stone corbels. Windows are horned timber sashes with two-over-two panes, set within stone openings with moulded shoulders and sloping stone cills; ground floor windows are wider and deeper than those above. Projecting bands define the floors, running continuously around both elevations.

The entrance elevation has a recessed ground floor with the upper storeys carried out over an open loggia. The loggia is formed by an arcade of six chamfered segmental arches springing from seven broad stone columns with moulded heads and octagonal feet; at the southern end, a similar arch terminates the loggia in line with the south elevation. The end bays under the loggia contain multi-paned glazed doors, with windows to the four central bays. The bay rhythm of the long south elevation is slightly irregular to accommodate the lateral stacks and the internal bedroom layout. Three narrow doorways are set in the sixth, eleventh and fifteenth bay positions in shouldered openings matching those of the windows. A metal sign bearing the legend IMPERIAL HOTEL is mounted centrally between the first and second floor windows. A fire escape stair is attached across the two easternmost bays.

The interior contains public rooms on the ground floor and guest bedrooms on the upper floors. The ground floor has a central stair hall. The rooms to the western end have been partly opened up, though wall stubs indicate there were originally four smaller rooms at this end, now forming separate areas of the bar with chimney breasts intact, though fire surrounds have been removed. These have a mixture of flagstone and timber floors and plain convex cornicing. The large room on the south side remains in its original form, and two further large rooms at the eastern end have been opened into a single large space. Service areas are complex, with lavatories and other services inserted throughout. The first and second floor plans are similar, each with a central corridor running through the spine of the building and rooms off to either side. The rooms have been slightly altered to accommodate en-suite bathrooms, mainly by the addition of pairs of bathrooms between rooms accessed from each side, which has left the earlier floor plan readily legible. The finishes in the bedrooms are almost all from the mid- to late twentieth century.