The Britannia Adelphi Hotel is in Ranelagh Place,

Liverpool Liverpool is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the List of English districts by population, 10th largest English district by population and its E ...

city centre,

Merseyside Merseyside ( ) is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in North West England, with a population of 1.38 million. It encompasses both banks of the Mersey Estuary and comprises five metropolitan boroughs: Knowsley, St Helens, Sefton, Wir ...

, England. The present building is the third hotel on the site, and is recorded in the

National Heritage List for England The National Heritage List for England (NHLE) is England's official database of protected heritage assets. It includes details of all English listed buildings, scheduled monuments, register of historic parks and gardens, protected shipwrecks, a ...

as a designated Grade II

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern I ...

. The building is owned and managed by

Britannia Hotels Britannia Hotels is a British hotel group with 63 hotels in Great Britain. Britannia operates at the budget end of the market, and includes the Pontins Holiday Park portfolio. In recent years, Britannia Hotels has been a subject of widespread c ...

. It contains 402 en-suite bedrooms, conference and dining facilities, and a gymnasium.

History

1826-1983: Foundation and ownership under British Rail

The first hotel on the site was built in 1826 for the hotelier James Radley by the conversion of two 18th-century town houses. It was built on the site of the former Ranelagh Gardens, the first open space for public recreation in Liverpool. This hotel was replaced by another hotel in 1876, which was bought in 1892 by the

Midland Railway The Midland Railway (MR) was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1844. The Midland was one of the largest railway companies in Britain in the early 20th century, and the largest employer in Derby, where it had its headquarters. It ama ...

, being renamed the Midland Adelphi. A feature was a basement set of heated tanks to keep live

turtles Turtles are an order of reptiles known as Testudines, characterized by a special shell developed mainly from their ribs. Modern turtles are divided into two major groups, the Pleurodira (side necked turtles) and Cryptodira (hidden necked tu ...

for

turtle soup Turtle soup, also known as Terrapin soup, is a soup or stew made from the meat of turtles. Differing versions of the soup exist in some cultures and are viewed as a delicacy. Versions China In China, and in several countries in Southeast Asi ...

which was not only served, but the basis of a significant business being sent to banquets etc. around the country and beyond.Ken Pye (2015) ''Merseyside Tales: Curious and Amazing True Stories from History'' History Press The railway company replaced it between 1911 and 1914 with the present building, designed by Frank Atkinson. When opened, it was "regarded as the most luxurious hotel outside London". Owing to Liverpool being a major arrival and departure point for ocean liners during the early 20th century, the Adelphi served as the most popular hotel in the city for wealthy passengers before they embarked on their journey to

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and th ...

. The RMS ''Titanic'' was registered in Liverpool (though it never visited the port), and the Sefton Suite is said to be an exact replica of the ill-fated liner's First Class Smoking Lounge. On 1 January 1948, Britain's railway companies were nationalised and the Adelphi Hotel became part of

British Transport Hotels British Transport Hotels (BTH) was the hotels and catering business of the nationalised railway system in Great Britain. Origins of the company Britain's private railway companies pioneered the concept of the railway hotel, initially at locati ...

, a subsidiary of

British Rail British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most of the overground rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the Big Four (British ra ...

. Guests at the hotel from this period included world leaders, such as Franklin D. Roosevelt and

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 during the Second World War, and again from ...

; as well as music artists like

Frank Sinatra Francis Albert Sinatra (; December 12, 1915 – May 14, 1998) was an American singer and actor. Nicknamed the " Chairman of the Board" and later called "Ol' Blue Eyes", Sinatra was one of the most popular entertainers of the 1940s, 1950s, and ...

Laurel and Hardy Laurel and Hardy were a British-American comedy duo act during the early Classical Hollywood era of American cinema, consisting of Englishman Stan Laurel (1890–1965) and American Oliver Hardy (1892–1957). Starting their career as a duo in t ...

Judy Garland Judy Garland (born Frances Ethel Gumm; June 10, 1922June 22, 1969) was an American actress and singer. While critically acclaimed for many different roles throughout her career, she is widely known for playing the part of Dorothy Gale in '' The ...

Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...

, and

Roy Rogers Roy Rogers (born Leonard Franklin Slye; November 5, 1911 – July 6, 1998) was an American singer, actor, and television host. Following early work under his given name, first as co-founder of the Sons of the Pioneers and then acting, the rebra ...

1983-Present: Sale to Britannia Hotels

Following the Conservative Party's victory in the 1979 general election, British Rail was ordered to dispose of unnecessary assets. In 1983, as part of the sale of British Transport Hotels, the hotel was sold by British Rail to the hotel group

. In 2006, the Adelphi Hotel was investigated by the BBC over ongoing theft and hygiene issues. In November 2010, following a food hygiene inspection from

Liverpool City Council Liverpool City Council is the governing body for the city of Liverpool in Merseyside, England. It consists of 90 councillors, three for each of the city's 30 wards. The council is currently controlled by the Labour Party and is led by Mayor J ...

, the hotel received a zero in its food hygiene rating (the lowest score possible) and was ordered to remedy its practices. It was handed a fourth consecutive zero in its food hygiene rating after an inspection in January 2016, and in June 2017 Britannia Hotels admitted in Liverpool Magistrates' Court to seven breaches of health and safety law and were fined £265,000. On 30 August 2006 a 25 year old man drowned in the swimming pool of the Adelphi after the lifeguard on duty left his post. The man had been dead for thirty minutes when he was found. In May 2010, Britannia Hotels was charged with several breaches of health and safety laws in relation to the death. A November 2015 investigation by the ''

Liverpool Echo The ''Liverpool Echo'' is a newspaper published by Trinity Mirror North West & North Wales – a subsidiary company of Reach plc and is based in St Paul's Square, Liverpool, Merseyside, England. It is published Monday to Sunday, and is Liverp ...

'' found broken and condensation-stained windows, damp-covered walls and windowsills, dirty rooms and bathrooms, and broken furniture. On 10 September 2022, a wardrobe in the Adelphi fell on a 21 year old woman and crushed her to death. The Adelphi is currently under investigation from Liverpool City Council following the incident. On 4 October, the ''Liverpool Echo'' revealed that the hotel is also under investigation for an incident that occurred earlier in 2022 in which a guest was injured. The following day Kim Johnson, the

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

for

Liverpool Riverside Liverpool Riverside is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2019 by Kim Johnson, who is a member of the Labour Party. Constituency profile Liverpool Riverside covers an urban area, many neighbourhoods a ...

(the constituency in which the hotel is based), urged Britannia Hotels to 'sell up and move on', describing the hotel as 'a blight on iverpool.

Architecture

Exterior

The Britannia Adelphi Liverpool is constructed in

Portland stone Portland stone is a limestone from the Tithonian stage of the Jurassic period quarried on the Isle of Portland, Dorset. The quarries are cut in beds of white-grey limestone separated by chert beds. It has been used extensively as a building ...

. It has seven floors, and its entrance front contains eleven

bays A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a gulf, sea, sound, or bight. A cove is a small, circular bay with a na ...

. The central three bays of the ground floor comprise the entrance, which is enhanced by columns. The windows on the first floor are round-headed; the rest of the windows are rectangular. In the central three bays of the fourth and fifth floors is a recessed balcony with Ionic columns. There are similar columns on these floors in the second and tenth bays. Above the sixth floor is a

cornice In architecture, a cornice (from the Italian ''cornice'' meaning "ledge") is generally any horizontal decorative moulding that crowns a building or furniture element—for example, the cornice over a door or window, around the top edge of a ...

with a

balustrade A baluster is an upright support, often a vertical moulded shaft, square, or lathe-turned form found in stairways, parapets, and other architectural features. In furniture construction it is known as a spindle. Common materials used in its c ...

Interior

The public rooms contain columns,

marble Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or dolomite. Marble is typically not foliated (layered), although there are exceptions. In geology, the term ''marble'' refers to metamorphose ...

panelling, and

coffer A coffer (or coffering) in architecture is a series of sunken panels in the shape of a square, rectangle, or octagon in a ceiling, soffit or vault. A series of these sunken panels was often used as decoration for a ceiling or a vault, also ...

ed arches. The Central Court is top-lit, and contains pink marble

pilaster In classical architecture, a pilaster is an architectural element used to give the appearance of a supporting column and to articulate an extent of wall, with only an ornamental function. It consists of a flat surface raised from the main wal ...

s, glazed screens, and French doors opening into restaurants on its sides. Beyond this is the Hypostyle Hall, containing

Empire An empire is a "political unit" made up of several territories and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the empire (sometimes referred to as the metropole) ex ...

-style decoration and four Ionic columns. Beyond this is the Fountain Court. File:Adelphi 1154.JPG, Hall File:Adelphi 1222a.JPG, Hypostyle Hall File:Adelphi 1129.JPG, A double bedroom

Adelphi Hotel in media

Jules Verne Jules Gabriel Verne (;''Longman Pronunciation Dictionary''. ; 8 February 1828 – 24 March 1905) was a French novelist, poet, and playwright. His collaboration with the publisher Pierre-Jules Hetzel led to the creation of the '' Voyages extra ...

's novel ''

Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea ''Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas'' (french: Vingt mille lieues sous les mers) is a classic science fiction adventure novel by French writer Jules Verne. The novel was originally serialized from March 1869 through June 1870 in Pierre- ...

'' Chapter 1.8, Professor Aronnax describes the interior of the submarine as similar to the ''Adelphi Hotel''. The lounge was used in the 1981 TV series ''

Brideshead Revisited ''Brideshead Revisited: The Sacred & Profane Memories of Captain Charles Ryder'' is a novel by English writer Evelyn Waugh, first published in 1945. It follows, from the 1920s to the early 1940s, the life and romances of the protagonist Charles ...

'' as the interior of an ocean liner.''The Britannia Adelphi Hotel Liverpool: The story of a great undertaking'' (booklet available from the hotel, undated) In 1997 the hotel was used in the filming of '' The Lakes'', in which the protagonist used the hotel toilets to steal from the guests. In 1997, the hotel was the subject of an eight-part BBC documentary series, ''

Hotel A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a dresser, a re ...

''. This fly-on-the-wall documentary enabled viewers to look behind the scenes at the everyday running of the hotel. The series was voiced over by

Andrew Sachs Andreas Siegfried Sachs (7 April 1930 – 23 November 2016), known professionally as Andrew Sachs, was a German-born British actor and writer. He made his name on British television and found his greatest fame for his portrayal of the comical Sp ...

who played Manuel in ''

Fawlty Towers ''Fawlty Towers'' is a British television sitcom written by John Cleese and Connie Booth, broadcast on BBC2 in 1975 and 1979. Two series of six episodes each were made. The show was ranked first on a list of the 100 Greatest British Televisio ...

''. The hotel features briefly in the Bob Dylan documentary '' Don't Look Back'' as Dylan appears on the balcony of his room to wave to his fans below.

References

{{Liverpool B&S

External links

Britannia Hotels
Hotel buildings completed in 1914 Grade II listed buildings in Liverpool Hotels in Liverpool Railway hotels in England Grade II listed hotels Hotels established in 1826 1826 establishments in England