19th century The Royal Hotel, Clacton-on-Sea (EHER 81210)

The Royal Hotel, probably by F. Barnes, was constructed in 1872, extended in 1891 and remodelled and extended in the twentieth century. It has three storeys, initially arranged in a rectangular plan and is probably constructed of rendered brick, with shallow-pitched gable roofs, partly covered in slate, and overhanging eaves supported by decorative iron brackets. The facade and south-west elevation have late twentieth century frontages on the ground floor. One the first floor, there is a veranda comprising a balustrade with decorative iron panel and a canopy above, supported by slender iron columns. There are stucco string courses at the first and second floors and stucco surrounds to window and door opening. There are few remaining fixtures or fittings of note and all interior doors are twentieth century. Decorative cornices are apparent in some bedrooms and main corridors. The main lobby has late nineteenth century panelling and revolving doors with metal detailing.

Information from NRHE data transfer. CONTEXT. An application to List the Royal Hotel has been submitted to English Heritage as an application for the refurbishment, partial demolition and extension of the hotel has been submitted to Tendring District Council. The application was approved by committee on 17th April 2007. The hotel lies within the Clacton Conservation Area. HISTORY. Clacton was a small hamlet in the Domesday Book of 1086 and remained a small, principally agricultural village near to the sea until, in 1864, railway engineer and entrepreneur, Peter Bruff, bought land to establish a seaside resort. He secured parliamentary permission to extend the railway to Clacton and build a pier. The latter was finished in 1871, and received paddle steamers from London bringing visitors to the new resort. The construction of the first phase of the Royal Hotel began in 1872, believed to be by Frederick Barnes of Ipswich. The hotel was extended to the east and north in 1891 and again in c. 1930s and to the rear in the later twentieth century. The main entrance to the hotel was on the east elevation until it was moved to the facade in the late nineteenth century when the eastern extension was added. The two upper floors of the hotel have most recently served as a hostel, while most of the ground floor has been converted into bars. DESCRIPTION. The Royal Hotel, probably by F. Barnes, constructed 1872, extended 1891, remodelled and extended in the twentieth century. The hotel has three storeys, initially arranged in a rectangular plan and is probably constructed of rendered brick, with shallow-pitched gable roofs, partly covered in slate, and overhanging eaves supported by decorative iron brackets. Some rendered and decorated ridge stacks remain. The façade and south-west elevation have late twentieth century frontages on the ground floor. On the first floor, there is a veranda comprising a balustrade with decorative iron panels and a canopy above, supported by slender iron columns. Twentieth century partitions divide the balcony space. There are stucco string courses at first and second floors and stucco surrounds to window and door openings. The window and door frames are either late nineteenth or twentieth century date, with twentieth century French windows replacing the first floor fenestration. The east elevation, of late nineteenth and twentieth century date has larger window openings with late twentieth century window frames. The rear elevation has a number of twentieth century single storey extensions and many alterations to openings. INTERIOR. There are few remaining interior fixtures and fittings of note and all interior doors are twentieth century. Decorative cornices are apparent in some bedrooms on the first and second floors and the main corridors which serve them. There are no remaining fireplaces on either floor. The back stair has a moulded softwood handrail and many replaced balusters and the main staircase is late twentieth century. Most of the ground floor has been converted into a bar and does not retain any contemporary fixtures and fittings. The main lobby has late nineteenth century timber panelling and revolving doors with metal detailing. There is a plain twentieth century brick fireplace with timber surround. At the east end is the ballroom with late twentieth century bar and fenestration at the facade. The ceiling has been lowered, but plain cornices on the original ceiling are apparent. ASSESSMENT. Greater selectivity is required when considering the designation of buildings post-dating 1840. For hotels, architectural quality, the presence of surviving features, intactness and rarity are key considerations. The seaside resort of Clacton, which reached the height of its popularity by 1918, was a relatively late example of a speculative seaside town made popular by its proximity to London and accessibility by train and paddle steamer. Pevsner described Clacton as having 'seaside architecture chiefly in the homely bargeboarded gabled style of the early Victorian suburb' and the Royal Hotel as having an 'informal hotel architecture' (Pevsner, Essex, 1974 p. 126). As one of the first buildings of the new resort, the Royal Hotel has considerable local historic interest. The hotel is thought to have been designed by Frederick Barnes, a versatile Ipswich architect whose oeuvre includes the Tudor-Gothic Needham Market and Stowmarket railway stations, (both grade II and built 1846), Gothic revival United Reformed Church (1870, grade II) and Wesleyan Methodist Chapel (1860, grade II) in Ipswich and his own house, 61 Anglesea Road (1875, grade II) in a strong asymmetric Gothic style. His style adapted to the dominant architectural themes of the mid to late nineteenth century and the hotel, in a Regency style, is thus an old-fashioned composition for its date. When compared with other prominent seaside hotels of similar period, of which there are many Listed examples such as the neoclassical Grand Hotel, Plymouth (1870, grade II) and the former Great Eastern Hotel in Harwich (1864, grade II), the Royal Hotel is modest in scale and detailing, as perhaps befits one of the first buildings of a tentative new development. Certainly the Grand Hotel in Clacton (1897, grade II) by Smith, Son and Gale, is a more imposing building of red brick with white ornate friezes, constructed when Clacton was a successful and prosperous resort. Photographic evidence of c. 1890s illustrates that the Royal Hotel was an unassuming building, its dignified facade on Marine Parade having a veranda at ground and first floor which provided a panoramic view of the pier, and the beaches which flanked it, immediately to the south. The strong horizontal details of the façade and south-west elevation were continued in the 1891 extension to the east. However, the early twentieth century development of the building further to the east and north, although of the same massing, does not continue this horizontal treatment and the overall composition lacks cohesiveness. While the local architectural and historic interest is acknowledged, the hotel has unfortunately suffered from unsympathetic conversion of the ground floor to later twentieth century facilities. This has resulted in the building-out of the ground floor and subsequent loss of the veranda at this level. The rear elevation, too, has ungainly twentieth century extensions and inserted openings, all of which have eroded the architectural quality of the building as a whole. There has been considerable loss of interior fixtures and fittings of historic interest throughout. The late nineteenth and twentieth century remodelling of the ground floor has rendered the plan-form of the 1870s hotel illegible. CONCLUSION. The Royal Hotel has local architectural and historic interest and is appropriately located in the Conservation Area, but unfortunately is of insufficient quality and too altered to fulfil the listing criteria for a building of this type and age. <1> See also <2>