Above: The Imperial Hotel, Torquay, 1934. This image was marked by Aero Pictorial Ltd for photo editing. [EPR000338] Copyright Historic England

History

Built in 1866 the original hotel was designed in the Italianate style, a prominent classical architectural style used extensively in the development of Torquay as a wintering resort in the late 19th century. The hotel was recognised almost from its inception as ‘the finest hotel in the West of England’ and patronised by the Victorian celebrity and European royalty. Famous early guests included Charles Dickens, Queen Sophie of the Netherlands, Napoleon III, the Prince of Wales and Benjamin Disraeli. The hotel also featured in three of Agatha Christie’s novels.

This success led to the Jubilee Wing being added to the west of the hotel in the 1870s. While retaining the classical styling it provided additional guest rooms, smoking room and Table d’Hote Room. Between 1870 and 1950 the hotel retained a consistent appearance with additions constrained to the lower levels, accommodating changing visitor trends including a ‘New Lounge’, sun deck/ballroom extension and squash courts.

In 1952 the Table d’Hote restaurant was extended to create the dramatic new Marine Restaurant above the squash courts. Further post-war ‘modernisations’ to the Jubilee Wing began to alter the elegance and vertical proportions of the original building.

Major upgrades during the 1960s sought to consolidate previous extensions, adding a new wing of 30 bedrooms, an additional storey to the original hotel and south facing balconies throughout. Horizontal banding changed the traditional vertical proportions of the Victorian hotel to a more Modernist style. The building’s original Italianate stylings were lost; the hotel, despite being 100 years old and the highly piecemeal nature of the extensions and remodelling, now presented a more generic appearance of a modern seaside hotel of the 1970s.