Hotel Imperial

The Hotel Imperial, built around 1875, is a hotel designed by Thomas Bennett for TC and J Hunter. It features red brick construction with ashlar sandstone dressings and a slate roof. The building stands four storeys high with an attic and has 11 bays arranged in a window rhythm of 3:1:2:2:2:1. The structure has a chamfered plinth and 4-pane sash windows set on continuous sill bands.

The main entrance, located in bay 4, consists of panelled double doors framed by a raised ashlar surround, pilasters, columns, and a round arch with carved spandrels displaying the initials 'TC' and 'JH'. Above this entrance is a cornice supported by consoles, topped with a balustraded balcony. The ground-floor windows feature sill blocks and gauged-brick round arches beneath linked pointed-arched hoodmoulds. A doorway has been created from a window in bay 2, and there is a square-headed vehicle entrance in bay 11.

On the first floor, the windows are topped with moulded brick round arches and a continuous round-arched hoodmould. The second floor has shouldered lintels beneath segmental brick arches, also with a segmentally-arched continuous hoodmould. The third floor windows have segmental-arched lintels and straight cornices. A string course and corbel table are present at the eaves cornice, which features a blocking course.

There is a front-slope stack located between bays 6 and 7, which has an offset plinth, band, and cornice, along with two similar stacks on the right that have been truncated. A brick dormer was added over bays 1-4. Plans for a 'New Hotel' by Thomas Bennett were submitted in 1874, and while the drawings relate to this hotel, the window treatment appears to have been revised.