The Malmaison Hotel Reading (formerly the Great Western Hotel) is a

grade II listed 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 ...

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 ...

in the town of

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of letters, symbols, etc., especially by sight or touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process involving such areas as word recognition, orthography (spell ...

in the

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ...

county of

Berkshire Berkshire ( ; in the 17th century sometimes spelt phonetically as Barkeshire; abbreviated Berks.) is a historic county in South East England. One of the home counties, Berkshire was recognised by Queen Elizabeth II as the Royal County of Ber ...

. It is situated at the junction of Blagrave Street and Station Road, directly opposite the main entrance to

Reading railway station Reading railway station is a major transport hub in Reading, Berkshire, England. It is on the northern edge of the town centre, near the main retail and commercial areas and the River Thames, from . Reading is the ninth-busiest station in t ...

. It was opened in 1844, shortly after the

Great Western Railway The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament on 31 August 1835 and ran ...

opened its line from London, and is thought to be the oldest surviving purpose-built railway hotel in the world.

History

When the

Great Western Main Line The Great Western Main Line (GWML) is a main line railway in England that runs westwards from London Paddington to . It connects to other main lines such as those from Reading to Penzance and Swindon to Swansea. Opened in 1841, it was the o ...

from London to Bristol was completed in 1841 a hotel was needed for people visiting the town. According to

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, medieval castles, Roman forts and country houses. The charity states that i ...

, the building is likely to have been designed by

Isambard Kingdom Brunel Isambard Kingdom Brunel (; 9 April 1806 – 15 September 1859) was a British civil engineer who is considered "one of the most ingenious and prolific figures in engineering history," "one of the 19th-century engineering giants," and "on ...

, who was GWR's Chief Engineer at the time of its construction and who incorporated similar features in the Royal Station Hotel at Slough (which was demolished in 1938). The building was completed in 1844 and was used as a hotel until a fire in the 1960s. Subsequently, the building was used as offices until it was renovated by the Malmaison hotel chain and reopened, in 2007, as the Malmaison Hotel.

References

External links

The Malmaison Hotel, Reading
on the Maimaison website Hotel buildings completed in 1844 Hotels in Reading, Berkshire Railway hotels in England Tourist attractions in Reading, Berkshire Grade II listed buildings in Reading Grade II listed hotels Great Western Railway Isambard Kingdom Brunel buildings and structures Hotels established in 1844 {{Berkshire-struct-stub