The Grand Hotel

The Grand Hotel is an impressive building constructed between 1863 and 1867, designed by architect Cuthbert Brodrick. This immense structure is made of red brick with tawny terracotta dressings and features four storeys, a basement, an additional storey at the eaves cornice level, and a two-storey attic. The building has a symmetrical facade with three sets of three windows, slightly projecting at the ends. The rusticated basement includes round-headed windows on the ground and first floors, with the first-floor windows featuring a continuous iron-railed balcony supported by large console brackets.

An ornamental cornice runs above the first, second, and third-floor windows, with the latter having segmental heads. The top floor windows are set between large, projecting upright console brackets that support the eaves. The roof features tall, slim two-storey domes rising from a brick and terracotta attic storey, with dormer windows adorned with terracotta pediments and ball finials, as well as round-headed dormer windows above. The roof is covered in slates.

The central part of the elevation boasts a three-bay arched porch with paired composite columns in antis, and tripartite windows on each floor above this. An elaborate pedimented gable with a window sits above the eaves. The narrow end of the building facing the sea has a large bowed end with a quasi-domed and dormered roof between the domed end towers, featuring a sea front with three sets of three windows. This end follows the same design as the front but lacks a central feature.

The fully exposed three-storey basement runs the full length of the building and has elaborate architectural treatment rising to a cornice. Above this, there is a modern glass storey. Inside, the hotel features a fine staircase. For further reading, see "Architecture of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries" by H R Hitchcock, published in 1958.