The Imperial Hotel

The Imperial Hotel is a commercial building dating from the late 19th century, constructed in the French Renaissance style. It occupies a corner site with its main facade facing Princes Drive and a return facade to Station Road. The building presents a balanced composition, featuring the main hotel block with an angled corner bay and three and five-bay elevations to Princes Drive and Station Road respectively. Attached two-bay brick blocks flank both elevations.

The main hotel building is of roughcast brick with stone dressings. It has a steeply pitched slate roof, hipped at the corner, with shallow bracketed eaves and decorative ridge cresting. Gabled dormers feature decorated bargeboards with finials. Red brick ridge stacks have yellow brick dressings and decorative pots. Paired plain sash windows are present throughout, each with arched heads, architrave surrounds, and projecting cills. A continuous cill course runs along the first and second floors. The building is three stories tall with an attic. The three-bay Princes Drive elevation has, to the right, a two-story projecting bay window of three lights and narrow side lights. A double door is centrally placed, formerly with a stone portico. A display window with a cornice and fascia is on the ground floor to the left, extending from the corner bay and the Station Road facade. Gable dormers are paired to the right-hand bay. Two ridge stacks are present. The five-bay (2+2+1) Station Road elevation features advanced outer bays and an angled corner bay. A central recessed bay includes a full-height oriel window under a hipped gable to the left. An altered shop front is to the left, and a hotel display window, continuing from the Princes Drive facade, occupies the remainder of the elevation, incorporating a wide doorway to the left and framed glazing elsewhere. Three ridge stacks are present. The corner bay originally contained a door, now replaced with a ground floor window.

The flanking end blocks, one to each of Princes Drive and Station Road, are of plain brick with slate roofs matching the main building. They are two bays wide and set slightly higher, with plain eaves and expressed geometric framing intended to resemble timber framing. They have paired large-pane sash windows with square heads and projecting cills. Plain gable dormers are also present. The Princes Drive block has a castellated brick bay window on the ground floor, a single window to the left, and a door to the right. The Station Road block features an oriel window to the first floor of the left bay and retains its original shop front on the ground floor.

Only the ground floor was inspected and is much altered. The upper floors were not inspected but are said to retain some of the original plan form, constructional, and decorative features contributing to the building's group value.