History

Opened 1866, built by the Hafod Hotel Co as the Queens Hotel; architects, Hayward and Davies; builder George Lumley of Aberystwyth. Sold in 1877 and later converted to local government use; remodelled in1950 by G R Bruce, County Architect.

Exterior

Detached towards N end of the Promenade, with main entrance to side elevation in Albert Place and rear elevation to Queens Road.

Hotel de Ville style. Asymmetrical 3-storey attic and basement snecked rubble 13-bay W (Promenade) elevation; stepped front with mostly vermiculated dressings, stock brick voussoirs, deep entablature and cornice and cill bands; buttresses to ground floor centre. Steep pitch mansard slate roof with truncated chimney stacks. Dormers with steep overhanging roofs and casement windows; paired to left. 3-bays advanced near the right hand end and with additional storey and splayed angles to 2nd floor (with small cast-iron parapets) and 3rd floor; also to top floor) with small cast-iron parapets) and 3rd floor; also to top floor at the corner. Sash windows, some paired; anthemion panelled cast-iron window box holder across central bays. Boarded up basement.

Similar 7-window, 3-storey and attic Albert Place front with main entrance to recessed centre with basement. Corbelled chimney breasts to left and right. Central Gothic tripartite dormer; 1st floor has Italianate paired stilted arched windows flanking similar tripartite window, all with colonnettes and inserted tympanum roundels. Broad central Gothic pitched roof porch with ornate bargeboards and brackets carried on tall columns with foliage capitals. Local quartz panels to outer ground floor windows. 6-windows 4-storey attic and basement left side elevation with similar but plainer detail; chimney breasts to end and centre act as pilaster strips. Irregular rear elevation; 4 and 5 window 3-storey, attic and basement end blocks flanking 1-storey and basement range with splayed front.

Interior

Interior retains large entrance hall with Gothic detail to staircase and lift shat cage, stairwell lit by stained glass windows. Cambrian Hall, formerly the dining room lies to N; 5-bays long, aisled with arched trusses and ironwork spandrels with QH monogram; part glazed roof. 3 bay Court Room to W with deep ribs, carried at dais end on paired columns. Wall panelling, dado rails and acanthus cornices to main rooms. Retains original ceramic sinks with breast taps to ground floor toilets.

Reasons for Listing

Group value.

External Links

• Cadwr Listing

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

• 
  County Durham (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England) by Elizabeth Williamson Nikolaus Pevsner(1983-03-11)
• 
  Herefordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Cumbria: Cumberland, Westmorland and Furness (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Period Property Manual (New Ed)
• 
  For the Record
• 
  The Listed Buildings and Other Principal Structures at the Royal Gunpowder Mills Waltham Abbey