Description

CHELTENHAM

SO9422SE PROMENADE
630-1/13/765 (South East side)
12/03/55 Queen's Hotel

GV II*

Hotel. 1838. Architects, RW and C Jearrad. Built on the site
of the Sherborne Spa at a cost of »47,000. Stucco over brick
with slate roof.
EXTERIOR: 4 storeys, 13 first-floor windows arranged 4:5:4,
with 4-storey, 3-window range set back to right. Stucco
detailing includes ground-floor horizontal rustication, drawn
into voussoirs over window recesses, with crowns and 'VR' to
keystones; deep round-arched recesses and panelled reveals to
windows and entrance. Ground floor breaks forwards and is
surmounted by 3/4 engaged columns with capitals modelled on
those of the Temple of Jupiter, Rome, breaking forwards again
to centre and with hexastyle pedimented 'portico'. Crowning
dentil entablature with modillion cornice. Ground floor has
mainly 3/6 windows with radial glazing bars to heads. First
and second floors have mainly 6/6 sashes, taller to first
floor. Third floor has 3/3 sashes. Central entrance has
double, glazed doors and fanlight.
INTERIOR: noted as retaining original plasterwork and joinery.
A detailed description of the hotel in 1838, and a summary of
its significance in an international context, can be found in
Pevsner (1976) who described Queen's Hotel and 'one of the
finest early Victorian English Hotels'.
HISTORICAL NOTE: a notable early example of the larger hotels
which were erected in some resorts before the great 'railway
hotels'.
The Promenade was laid out in 1818 as a tree-lined avenue from
the Colonnade in the High Street to the Sherborne Spa (later
named the Imperial Spa), on the site of which the Queen's
Hotel now stands. By 1826 it was a carriage drive with
spacious gravelled walk on either side. Notable guests to the
Hotel include Edward VII (when Prince of Wales), Prince Louis
Jerome Napoleon, the Rajah of Sarawak, Elgar, and Sir Arthur
Conan Doyle.
The hotel opened 21 July 1838, its first lessee was Richard
Liddell. It had over 120 bedrooms, 25 sitting rooms,
apartments for servants, drawing rooms, coffee and billiard
rooms. During the Second World War it was used as an American
Services Club. Verey describes it as, 'a very strong design'.
(The Buildings of England: Verey D: Gloucestershire: The Vale
and The Forest of Dean: London: 1970-: 140,146; Sampson A and

Blake S: A Cheltenham Companion: Cheltenham: 1993-: 69,105;
Rowe G: Illustrated Cheltenham Guide: Cheltenham: 1850-1969:
22; Sampson A: The Queen's Hotel, Cheltenham: Cheltenham:
1981-; Pevsner N: A History of Building Types: London: 1976-:
177-78).

Listing NGR: SO9457122001

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Queens Hotel official website
• Wikidata Q17535715

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Liverpool: Pevsner City Guide (Pevsner Architectural Guides: City Guides)
• 
  Gloucestershire 2: The Vale and The Forest of Dean: Vale and Forest of Dean Pt. 2 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Staffordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Essex: Buildings of England Series (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Devon (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  London 4: North: North v. 4 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)