Grand Hotel Eastbourne
Encyclopedia
The Grand Hotel is a Victorian
Victorian architecture
The term Victorian architecture refers collectively to several architectural styles employed predominantly during the middle and late 19th century. The period that it indicates may slightly overlap the actual reign, 20 June 1837 – 22 January 1901, of Queen Victoria. This represents the British and...

 hotel also known as the 'White Palace' is located on King Edwards Parade, Eastbourne
Eastbourne
Eastbourne is a large town and borough in East Sussex, on the south coast of England between Brighton and Hastings. The town is situated at the eastern end of the chalk South Downs alongside the high cliff at Beachy Head...

 in East Sussex
East Sussex
East Sussex is a county in South East England. It is bordered by the counties of Kent, Surrey and West Sussex, and to the south by the English Channel.-History:...

 England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. This 5 star hotel is part of an independent UK based hotel group, Elite Hotels who also own Tylney Hall in Hampshire
Hampshire
Hampshire is a county on the southern coast of England in the United Kingdom. The county town of Hampshire is Winchester, a historic cathedral city that was once the capital of England. Hampshire is notable for housing the original birthplaces of the Royal Navy, British Army, and Royal Air Force...

, Ashdown Park Hotel near Forest Row
Forest Row
Forest Row is a village and relatively large civil parish in the Wealden District of East Sussex, England. The village is located three miles south-east of East Grinstead.-History:...

 and Luton Hoo in Luton
Luton
Luton is a large town and unitary authority of Bedfordshire, England, 30 miles north of London. Luton and its near neighbours, Dunstable and Houghton Regis, form the Luton/Dunstable Urban Area with a population of about 250,000....

.

Heritage

On 13 May 1874 the Eastbourne
Eastbourne
Eastbourne is a large town and borough in East Sussex, on the south coast of England between Brighton and Hastings. The town is situated at the eastern end of the chalk South Downs alongside the high cliff at Beachy Head...

 Gazette announced that a local resident William Earp was proposing to build a hotel with a 400-foot frontage at a cost of £50,000. The result was the Grand Hotel, constructed in 1875.

The Grand Hotel is wknown for its long association with music. Claude Debussy
Claude Debussy
Claude-Achille Debussy was a French composer. Along with Maurice Ravel, he was one of the most prominent figures working within the field of impressionist music, though he himself intensely disliked the term when applied to his compositions...

 completed his symphony 'La Mer' in Suite 200 in 1905. Suite 200 is now known as the Debussy Suite. The Grand Hotel Orchestra broadcasted live on the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

from the Great Hall every Sunday night from 1924 to 1939 on the programme 'Grand Hotel'. During the Second World War, Eastbourne was easy prey to air raids and the hotel eventually closed down and became a military headquarters.
The hotel was taken over by the De Vere Hotel Group in 1965 and then by Elite Hotels in 1998 when a complete refurbishment took place.

Rooms

The Grand Hotel has 152 rooms, including 23 suites, 30 junior suites and 99 rooms. The hotel also offers conference and banqueting facilities with 17 fully equipped conference and meeting rooms of varying size. The largest is the Compton Room which can accommodate up to 300 guests in a theatre-style layout.

Fire 1995

On 26 June 1995 there was a serious fire at the Grand Hotel. The fire started when workmen had been repainting, using blow torches to strip off old paint. The fire spread quickly partly because of hidden roof voids and the tar pitch in the roof. The hotel was evacuated and there were no casualties.

External links

  • Official Site
  • http://www.theaa.com/hotels/eastbourne-the-grand-hotel-379695
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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