Images from Historic Building Recording at the Royal Hotel, Station Road, Ashby de la Zouch 2019
Cotswold Archaeology, 2021. https://doi.org/10.5284/1088138. How to cite using this DOI
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- ADS Collection: 4149
- DOI:https://doi.org/10.5284/1088138
- How to cite using this DOI
Introduction
In September 2019 Cotswold Archaeology was commissioned to undertake Historic Building Recording in relation to the Grade II* Listed Royal Hotel in Ashby de la Zouch, Leicestershire. This collection comprises images taken of the Royal Hotel as part of this recording work and includes shots of interior and exterior architectural details.
The Hotel comprises a single, 3-storey building situated on the eastern side of Station Road and to the west of Bath Grounds. The tender for the construction of the Royal Hotel was issued in 1826 and the building was constructed c1827 (Hayward 2004), principally to accommodate visitors to the adjacent Ivanhoe Baths which were constructed five years earlier. Although the Baths failed to prosper, closing down in the late 19th-century, the hotel continued to operate until 2017.
The hotel building was not without problems and the stone façade and northern elevation were refaced in red brick at the end of the 19th-century due to the collapse of some stone elements. Nevertheless, the building maintains its external proportions and architectural features and is largely reflective of its original form.
The special interest of the hotel lies principally in its Evidential and Historic value as an example of a late Georgian hotel building with strong associations with the fashion for spa towns and hygiene. The building retains many of its historic features such as the Greek columns and porch to the western elevation and the stonework to the eastern and southern elevations. Internally, the building has undergone many alterations and reconfigurations to the ground floor, eroding much of the intelligibility of the historic layout. Aesthetically, the hotel represents a good example of early 19th-century architecture and presents an impressive and imposing structure that retains many architectural and decorative features indicative of the wealth of the customers it was designed to attract.
