The
Empire
Bath
A Short History of the Building
The turn of the 19th & 20th centuries:
A new hotel for Bath
In 1898 Alfred Holland travelled to Bath to look for a site for a new hotel as part of his chain of hotels, Spiers and Pond. Felix Spiers and Christopher Pond were pioneers of railway hospitality in Australia and the UK, and also owned and operated The Grand Hotel in Brighton and The Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in London, among many other hotels, shops and restaurants. Bath Spa railway station, located a short walk along Pierrepont Street from The Empire’s eventual location, had been opened in 1840, making Bath easier to access for visitors from across the country.
Alfred Holland retained Bath City Architect Major C E Davis to help with his search for a suitable hotel site in Bath. Major Davis had previously been involved in the discovery and excavation of the Roman Baths in Bath from 1877-1886. Davis suggested a site for the hotel in the centre of the city, not far from the Roman Baths. In his negotiations with city authorities, Mr Holland stressed that there would need to be public improvements for a hotel in this location to be successful, and specified the need for a road to be built running from Pierrepont Street, around Orange Grove, and on to Bridge Street. This road, which would eventually be named Grand Parade, was to be built on a framework of girders supported by piers and columns. The site of the proposed hotel straddled the city wall, which is still visible in the basement of the building, and the East Gate, which still survives in Boatstall Lane. Building this new road required the demolition of buildings in Orange Court, including Nassau House and Winchester House, and also the lodging houses above the East Gate.
Records show that Mr Holland also stated that he took for granted that there were to be no height restrictions on the hotel building. The hotel would eventually rise to a height of approximately 100 feet from the level of the Orange Grove, with massive archways and a labyrinth of cellarage below.
The first proposed name for the new hotel was The Grand Hotel but the Council felt it would cause confusion with the existing Grand Pump Room Hotel, so in May 1990 Mr Holland announced it was to be called The Empire Hotel. Work began in 1899. The foundation stone was laid 23 feet below street level and the foundations were 10 feet wide.
The hotel opened in 1901 to great fanfare and as the foremost luxury hotel in Bath. It offered every modern convenience, magnificent furnishings, and sumptuous decorations organised by prolific cabinet makers and upholsterers Messrs Smee and Cobay of New Bond Street, London.
A spectacular, grand Jacobean staircase ran from the hall to the fifth floor. The staircase was made of three types of wood: Cedar banisters fixed into a mahogany frame and steps carved from oak.
1901 - 1939:
A flourishing hotel
1939 - 1989:
The Admiralty in residence
At the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939 the hotel was commissioned by the Admiralty as an important operational central office for the British Navy and used as such for the duration of the hostilities.
When war ended in 1945 the Admiralty retained the building and continued to occupy the hotel until 1989.
When the Admiralty departed in 1989 the building remained empty for a further five years. During this time, two attempts were made to repurpose the building, but both failed. In 1994 the city council, as freeholder of the building, held a competition to attract proposals and purchasers for a third attempt. Pegasus, a UK-wide retirement housing company, submitted the winning bid. From September 1994 to November 1996 the company restored The Empire and re-established the building as a luxurious landmark residential development in the heart of the city. Now, anyone over 50 can buy and live in one of the apartments in The Empire.
1990 - Present: Conversion to private residences
