Empire Hotel Bath, England

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ORANGE GROVE 656-1/41/2424 (North side) Empire Hotel 17/07/89

GV II

Hotel, now apartments. 1900-1901 by Major CE Davis for hotelier Alfred Holland, restored and converted 1996. MATERIALS: Limestone ashlar cladding to an internal steel work, roofs of Bridgwater tiles and lead. PLAN: Large L-shaped block with octagonal corner tower EXTERIOR: A large building in the city centre, clad in a Free Renaissance exterior. Six main storeys with attics and double depth basement corner tower has seven storeys. Eight bays to Orange Grove, nine bays to east (river) front with further bay canted on corner. Tall ground floor with mullion and transom windows and decorative cast iron canopy to main entrance, with 'EMPIRE HOTEL'. Five bay conservatory now added to left of entrance (1996). First floor has three light mullion and transom windows and four bay loggia across centre with balustraded balconies. Second floor has pedimented windows. Third and fourth floors have plain windows, all three light mullion and transom. Heavy cornices divide each floor and strip pilasters between each window. Sixth floor has very varied roofline. Paired gables to left with decorative plasterwork. Central bays have large shaped gable with six single light windows separated by pilasters, and two more in attic floor above, this gable was originally crowned by ball finial. Each face of corner tower has two light mullion and transom window, upper floor with Baroque columns supporting only block entablatures. Parapet to tower, Jacobean filigree spikes have been removed. East front has another large shaped gable, and plain but double sized gable, again with decorative plasterwork. Single storey kitchen range in angle of L. City's medieval Eastgate (qv) attached on north side. INTERIOR: Basement contains much structural steelwork by Glengarnock Company. Rolled steel joists on cast iron columns spanning many difficult corners of site. Extent of steelwork not known. Boiler room with two original heating boilers dated 1901. Public rooms on ground floor very little altered except decoratively. Dining Room, in subdued Greek manner, has two marbled Ionic columns, Greek architraves and fire surrounds with over-mantels. Entrance Hall has two Corinthian columns, coffered ceiling and French Renaissance type fireplace. Original reception desk and revolving doors in store in basement. Jacobean style staircase with fine joinery and Rococo plasterwork on walls. Joinery and plasterwork largely complete in Drawing Room and Bars. Staircase rises full height of building. First floor has grand suites and these retain joinery and fireplaces, original bathroom fittings are in store in basement. Bedroom floors above are much plainer but again almost unaltered. Whole building shows remarkable survival of original design and planning of grand turn-of-the-century hotel in which purpose of almost every room is still recognisable. Interior has only been inspected on ground floor on this occasion, full inspection made at time of listing. HISTORY: A huge hotel development, altering the scale and appearance of the city centre, employing new construction techniques. The hotel was requisitioned by the Navy in 1939, and only returned to its owners, Bath City Council in 1989. It was converted into retirement flats above commercial premises on the ground floor. The basement underwent considerable alteration and the old kitchen has been demolished. The building is now an integral part of the city centre and possesses very strong group value with the surrounding listed buildings, a number of which are also by Major Davis, the Bath City Architect. SOURCES: N. Jackson, Nineteenth Century Bath - Architects and Architecture (1991), 225-228.

Listing NGR: ST7519364855