Queen's Hotel, 24-30 Commercial Street, Lerwick

Queen's Hotel

This substantial hotel complex at 24-30 Commercial Street, Lerwick, developed over more than a century from circa 1800 onwards. Its core comprises early 19th-century houses and a warehouse, which were incorporated into a mid-19th-century hotel building. The principal block is a 3-storey structure with an attic, built over a concealed basement. The original 3-bay section was extended by a further 3 bays in 1868. The building is flanked by 2-storey wings over concealed basements and is extended at both western and eastern ends with 2-storey and attic gabled projections running towards the rear, seaward side. A further 2-storey gabled wing is centred within a flagged courtyard between these projections, creating an approximate E-shaped plan.

The walls are constructed of harl-pointed stugged sandstone rubble with stugged and droved ashlar dressings, though some sections are cement-rendered. The building features margined corners, an eaves cornice, and projecting cills at the windows.

The principal block's south-west elevation facing Commercial Street is 6 bays long, grouped as 3 and 3 with a margin dividing them at the centre. At ground floor, the left-hand bays contain 3 closely-spaced windows; a 6-panel glazed entrance door with fanlight is centred in this section, flanked by channelled jambs and a corniced lintel. The right-hand bays show regular fenestration at the first and second floors, though much of this is now obscured by a modern harled escape stair tower and a modern porch at ground level.

The north-west elevation, forming the gable end of the principal block, is 2 bays wide. An ashlar-coped rubble wall bounds the basement area here, with an ashlar stair featuring a wrought-iron handrail oversailing towards No. 30. A window lights the principal floor in the left bay; the right side carries a small attic window in the gablehead while the second floor remains blank.

The north-east elevation, facing seaward, is a 6-bay asymmetrical front grouped 3 and 3 with a central margin. The basement and principal floors here are largely obscured by later additions, but the upper bays show regular fenestration to the left and irregular fenestration to the right.

The south-east elevation is heavily obscured by the eastern wing, with only a single window visible at second floor level to the left.

The western wing, housing the lifeboat station, presents a 2-storey elevation to Church Lane (north-west) with 2 widely-spaced asymmetrical bays. The left bay contains a wide doorway and a window at ground level; the right bay has a door at ground with a window beside it. The north-east gable end has 2 bays with windows at principal and attic floors. The courtyard-facing south-east elevation shows 2 widely-spaced windows with modern glazing at principal floor level.

The eastern wing's south-west elevation on Commercial Street is 2 storeys tall, comprising 3 closely-spaced bays. A blank bay occupies the ground floor to the right, and a blind window is centred at first-floor level. The south-east elevation rises 2 storeys over a basement across 5 asymmetrical bays. The basement shows windows of varying sizes; a cantilevered stone walkway with (now missing) railing runs along the principal floor. An infilled door appears to the left of the fourth bay at first-floor level. The pattern of fenestration is irregular, with a blank section at the outer left bay, a window offset to the left at the fourth bay, and a bipartite window at the outer right bay. The north-east gable facing seaward has 3 bays with blanks at the basement and in the centre bay at principal floor, but regular fenestration at first floor.

The central courtyard wing features a bipartite window centred at principal floor in its seaward gable and a small basement window offset to the right. Extensions project to east and west; the western extension is flat-roofed with a round-arched window. A crenellated cement-rendered and lined sea wall encloses the courtyard to the east, featuring a basket-arched, margined opening with steps and a timber door at the centre. To the west, a rubble sea wall encloses the courtyard.

Most windows are timber sash-and-case frames with 4-pane glazing. A single surviving 12-pane timber sash window of original pattern remains at the principal front; secondary windows, those serving the bar, and those of the lifeboat station are fitted with plate glass or multi-pane patterns. Timber dormers on the north pitch of the principal block are piend-roofed and slate-hung with a canted profile. These dormers are fenestrated with 4-pane timber sash-and-case windows paired with plate-glass sidelights.

The roof is covered in purple-grey slate with cast-iron gutters and downpipes. Multiple chimneys rise from the principal block and eastern wing: 3 multi-flue apex stacks surmount the principal block, a wallhead stack rises from the north elevation, apex and wallhead stacks serve the eastern wing, and a stack centred on the lifeboat station ridge completes the arrangement. All are topped with circular cans and ashlar skew copes.