The North Euston Hotel is a hotel in

Fleetwood Fleetwood is a coastal town in the Borough of Wyre in Lancashire, England, at the northwest corner of the Fylde. It had a population of 25,939 at the 2011 United Kingdom census, 2011 census. Fleetwood acquired its modern character in the 1830 ...

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

, England. It was built between 1840 and 1841, to a design by Decimus Burton. During the second half of the 19th century, the building was used by the War Department as a School of Musketry; by the end of the century, it had reverted to its original purpose. The hotel has been designated a Grade II

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

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History

was a 19th-century planned town, developed by local landowner Peter Hesketh-Fleetwood. Inspired by southern English seaside resorts like St Leonards-on-Sea, Hesketh-Fleetwood employed architect Decimus Burton to lay out his new town and design the main buildings. Hesketh-Fleetwood intended that Fleetwood would be an important stop for rail passengers travelling from London to Scotland, for in the 1840s, there was no railway over the

Lake District The Lake District, also known as ''the Lakes'' or ''Lakeland'', is a mountainous region and National parks of the United Kingdom, national park in Cumbria, North West England. It is famous for its landscape, including its lakes, coast, and mou ...

hills and passengers would be able to disembark at Fleetwood before taking a boat to Scotland. A hotel was a vital part of this plan, and since rail passengers would be embarking at London Euston, Hesketh-Fleetwood decided to name it the North Euston Hotel. Burton designed the hotel as a focal point in the town. Construction started in 1840, and it opened the following year. A regatta was held in celebration of the hotel's opening in August 1841. The hotel's first manager was a

Corsica Corsica ( , , ; ; ) is an island in the Mediterranean Sea and one of the Regions of France, 18 regions of France. It is the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, fourth-largest island in the Mediterranean and lies southeast of the Metro ...

n man called Xenon Vantini. By the 1850s, a direct rail route to Scotland had been built, ending Hesketh-Fleetwood's hopes of Fleetwood becoming a major transport hub. The town's tourist industry was failing and the North Euston was sold to the government. Between 1861 and 1867, the War Department used it as a School of Musketry; later, with additional buildings, it was converted into Euston Barracks. In 1898, the North Euston reverted to its original use. On 26 April 1950,

designated the hotel a Grade II

. The Grade II designation—the lowest of the three grades—is for buildings that are "nationally important and of special interest". The hotel overlooks Euston Gardens, which sits between North Albert Street and The Esplanade.

Architecture

The hotel is built of

ashlar Ashlar () is a cut and dressed rock (geology), stone, worked using a chisel to achieve a specific form, typically rectangular in shape. The term can also refer to a structure built from such stones. Ashlar is the finest stone masonry unit, a ...

with

slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous, metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade, regional metamorphism. It is the finest-grained foliated metamorphic ro ...

roofs. It has a curved plan, with a front

façade A façade or facade (; ) is generally the front part or exterior of a building. It is a loanword from the French language, French (), which means "frontage" or "face". In architecture, the façade of a building is often the most important asp ...

that stretches approximately . The north and south wings have two regular storeys with a mansard roof, and dormers providing accommodation on the third floor. The central portion has three full storeys. The north wing, which faces along the Esplanade, curves almost a full 90 degrees, while the south wing is shorter, curving roughly 45 degrees. At the front of the building there is a porte-cochère (porch) supported by fluted Roman Doric columns.

References

;Notes ;Footnotes ;Bibliography * * * * * *

External links

* * {{Borough of Wyre buildings Commercial buildings completed in 1841 Buildings and structures in Fleetwood Grade II listed buildings in Lancashire Hotels in Lancashire Decimus Burton buildings 1841 establishments in England Hotels established in 1841 Hotel buildings completed in 1841

History

Architecture

See also

References

Further reading

External links