chapter six

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Chapter 6 A Tour of Weymouth's Georgian Seafront - 1770 to 1800
Apart from Stacie's Hotel (1772), Gloucester Lodge was the first substantial building to be erected on the seafront so it is a fitting place to start the tour of the sea front. It was built for the Duke of Gloucester in 1780 and became the "Royal Palace" and the holiday home of King George III. He occupied it during his visits from 1790 onwards and purchased it from his brother in 1801. The original building was relatively small and the architect has not been identified. The main block was entered from a railed and gated courtyard on the side nearest to old Melcome - the side of the present Gloucester Street. At that time the Royal Shrubbery stretched as far as what is now School Street in old Melcome Regis. At the rear of the Lodge were extensive Royal Stables which in more recent years has formed part of a cinema. The building is in red brick. The Lodge was originally of two storeys and cellars, with the principal rooms on the ground floor, which is raised above the pavement level. The front and rear elevations were alike and of eight bays which included a two-bay wing at each end that projected slightly. At the front of each wing on the ground floor is a Venetian window that extends across two bays although nowadays one is partly hidden by the large ground floor conservatory. The four central window bays have flat arched brick heads and hung sashes and the ground floor windows stretch from floor to ceiling. The first floor windows are of square proportions and in the original building they were immediately surmounted by a parapet, with square attic dormers in the roof. In 1862 a large new wing was added to the southern end of the original building making it difficult to imagine how the much smaller Royal Lodge must have looked in its prime. The new wing became know as the Country Club. It is probable that this was when the entrance was moved to the front of the Lodge. A fire in 1927 meant that considerable reconstruction was needed but the principal architectural features of the Royal Lodge were retained and restored although an additional storey was added, along with an extra attic floor immediately beneath the roof. Nowadays Gloucester Buildings is mainly used as private apartments and the cellar area operates as a public house.
		Another one of the very oldest terraces along the front is York Buildings. It was erected as a group of seven houses in 1783 but the architect is not known. It is adjacent to Harvey's Library and what is left of Charlotte Row. A fine line drawing of how the original buildings must have looked has been constructed by local historian Eric Ricketts (above). It was the first speculative terrace of houses built facing the sea and as can be seen from the fine drawing by local historian Eric Ricketts (see above), it was once considered to be one of the best eighteenth century seafront terraces in the country. As can be seen from the recent photograph (1998) (see at left) it has been architecturally vandalised, so that nowadays it bears little resemblance to the elegant original. One house has been demolished and four of them abominably altered. The central house, with its three storey bow remains, along with the southernmost house, to show us the original conception. Fortunately the general scale of the group remains intact.
The central house projects slightly beyond the others and has a wide bow window on the upper floors decorated with flat pilasters; on the ground floor the bow is carried by a pair of columns with a smaller bow window behind, flanked by a pair of doorways. The front of No. 1 has a three light window on each of the ground and first floors, the latter with a blind semicircle over the centre light; above it on the second floor are two plain hung-sash window with a frieze and cornice above. The other houses were similar to No. 1 but have been altered and some are in a poor state of repair. The frieze was originally decorated with paterae (round or oval plaques with lines of fluting radiating from the centre, often made of the weatherproof Coade stone) many of which are now missing. Only one of the first floor Venetian windows remains.
Immediately to the north of Gloucester Lodge is a terrace of four houses known as Gloucester Row Nos. 1 to 4, built in 1789 by James Hamilton. At least three of them were eventually purchased by King George III and used as supplementary accommodation for the Royal Court. Sadly, over the years this short terrace has become horribly disfigured. In the severe fire in 1927 that damaged Goucester Lodge the terrace was badly damaged and the resulting rebuilding destroyed much of the original architecture, with one house being completely replaced. The terrace is four storeys, the upper floor being an addition; No. 1 is unaltered, No. 2 has a modern shop front, No. 3 has been hideously rebuilt and the ground floor is an amusement arcade and No. 4, adjacent to the Royal Hotel, has been rendered.
		No. 4 was once the home of Mr. Stacie the first Manager of the original Stacie's Hotel and Assembly Rooms. Each of the four house was three window bays wide, with a basement and with the first floor windows running from floor to ceiling. In each house one of the ground floor window bay openings was given over to a front entrance. Two of the original round-headed doorways with moulded surrounds and key blocks survive in Nos. 1 and 4. The windows have flat heads with two square ended stone voussoirs and a central key stone. At one time the front gardens were walled and had railings. Sadly, as can be seen from the adjacent modern photograph, the charm of the original terrace has been largely destroyed.
Beyond the other side of Stacie's Hotel, in 1790, the terrace of houses called Gloucester Row Nos. 7 to 14 was built. When Stacie's was demolished in 1893 the site remained unused until 1897 when the present day Royal Hotel and Royal Arcade were built. They were completed in 1899. Gloucester Row Nos. 7 to 14 stretches elegantly away from the Royal Arcade towards King Street and the Town Clock. The terrace was originally designed and built as ten units, although the northernmost house (at the King Street corner) was subsequently demolished, as were two at the south end, to make way for the Royal Arcade. The central pair are set a little higher than the flanking houses. The seven remaining houses are three storied with attics and a semi basement storey beneath a raised ground floor. The walls are rendered in stucco beneath a tiled roof and the lower storey is rusticated. The central pair stand slightly higher than the rest, are un-rendered in the upper storeys. and have balconies and cast iron verandas to the first floor. The cast iron verandas are of excellent quality and were added in 1820, with the verandas of the central pair having decorative supports and tent hoods. Nos. 7 to 9 and 12 to 13 have doorways with shallow, plain fanlights under three-centred heads between engaged columns with fluted capitals supporting entablatures. Nos. 7 and 8 are without architraves and Nos. 10 and 11 have no surrounds but have arched heads with voussiors in the rustication, as have the windows. Each house is three window bays wide with tall first floor windows. There is a second floor sill band with moulded cornice, blocking course and parapet set higher to the central pair. Some of the detailing of the terrace has been lost with a balcony missing and replacement balustrades. Windows have been altered and dormers changed. Wood’s Weymouth Guide of 1798 shows that at that time a Mr. Hamilton lived in No. 10 Gloucester Row. This may not have been James Hamilton the architect because we know that a William Hamilton also lived in the Borough at that time. By 1835 the Corporation had agreed to sell the "Reversion in Fee" (lease) of the houses in Gloucester Row, except for the Royal Hotel. The Royal or Gloucester Lodge was acquired with Coach Houses and Garden by a Mrs. Young.
Near the old harbour end of the Esplanade the present Alexandra Gardens shelters Clarence Buildings, parts of which were erected around 1795. The architect is not known. No. 1 was not built until 1867 at the corner of Belle Vue as a Sanatorium, replacing some of the old stone 17^th century cottages whose backs faced the sea. Houses Nos. 3 and 4 Clarence Buildings were built as a single house but this was later divided and the south end - now No. 3 - was rebuilt in the first decade of the 19^th century. No. 3 is of three storeys with mansard attics and has a three storey bow window in the centre. The houses retain many of their original features. The earliest portion of the terrace is No. 4 which is of two storeys with mansard attics and rendered walls surmounted by a moulded cornice and parapet. The doorway stands in the centre of the combined elevation with a plain sash window above. North of the doorway is a two-storey bow window. Nos. 7 and 8 Clarence Buildings are three storey with mansard attics; the roof which was originally tiled has been partly covered with slate; the walls of No. 8 are rendered in stucco. Each house has a three storey bow window at the front with a continuous cornice.
		The Alexandra Hotel with three storeys and attics, was built as a pair of houses in the late 18 century. The front elevation, which has a moulded cornice and parapet, is divided by a broad plat-band at first floor level and a narrower band linking the second-floor window sills; the hung sash windows are of graduated heights. The doorway is arched with moulded architrave over a plain fanlight. At the end of Clarence Buildings is the Rex Hotel, built in the 1840's. The Rex is constructed of fine Portland stone ashlar at the front, with rusticated ground floor. It was built externally as two separate houses for the Duke of Clarence, but internally the layout is for one grand house. It has a slate mansard roof. The sash windows are of a high standard as is the arch-headed entrance door and unusual fanlight. Internally it has many interesting features including a Portland stone staircase with wrought iron balustrades.
Charlotte Row, some of whose five houses were originally built around 1795 was named after King George III's Queen Charlotte and the Princess. The architects are not known. It is a short terrace of five houses adjoining what was once Harvey's Library and York Terrace. After a fire which damaged and disfigured much of the upper floor there has been some restoration of the end building into The Dorothy bars and restaurant. On the corner of Bond Street the 17^th century houses that once stood there have been swept away to be replaced by the strikingly ornate Renaissance style public toilets. It was erected as a Bank in 1883 but now it must be one of the most impressive public toilets in the country!
		The adjacent house is late-18^th century of three storeys with slated roof, stone moulded cornice and parapet. The ground floor is now a shop. The next three houses date from around 1795 but they were extended and modified in the late 1800's. They are three storey, with attics, and are each three windows wide. Each house has two hipped dormers in the roof with casement windows. The second floor windows have mainly square sashes and there are alternate windows and French doors at first floor. The original frontage was set back which has allowed the later insertion of the veranda and commercial frontage. As the modern photograph shows, the buildings are in a dilapidated state and are currently an insult to Weymouth’s precious Georgian heritage.
Grosvenor Place nowadays comprises the Oxford Hotel and the Ferry Inn. The Hotel is made up of two distinct buildings that were built around 1795; the architect is not known. The one on the corner of St. Alban Street is three storeys with semi-basement and attics. The walls are of stone below second floor level and brick and stucco above. It was built late 18^th century as a house of two storeys and the upper storey was added in the early 19^th century together with the pair of three storey bay windows facing the Bay. This front has plat bands at ground and first floor levels and a moulded stone cornice at the original eaves level. A stone doorway facing St. Alban Street has a flat moulded cornice above a pair of attached columns. The Ferry Inn is a house of the early 19^th century of three storeys with semi-basement and attics; on the front facing the Bay is a three storey bay window.
		Augusta Place was built around 1795 as a mixture of different houses. The architects are not known. It still retains some of the original details with doorways, fanlights, sash bars and ironwork. Nos. 1 and 2 Augusta Place are of similar design and construction but No. 1 has been considerably altered and the attic converted to an extra storey. The houses were originally of three storeys with basements and attics and were perhaps built as a single house. The front elevation is divided by stucco plat-bands and a moulded cornice and has a pair of three corner bays. The Fairhaven Bars was formerly the Queen Victoria Hotel and her countenance still surveys the scene with some distaste. Some of its present structure dates from the 18 century but most of it now dates from the middle of the 19th century.
The Fairhaven Hotel is three storeys with basement and attics. It was altered in the mid-19^th century with the addition of an extra storey. The front elevation has a doorway at the north end under a wide semicircular arch; and the two ground floor and the three first-floor windows have rusticated flat-arched heads. Houses Nos. 5 and 6 are of three storey with mansard attics; each has a two storey bow window to the upper floors with a moulded dentil cornice. The doorway to No. 6 has a semicircular head and fanlight; modern shop windows have been inserted. The Weymouth Hotel with its bulky high gable may have replaced part of the little Royal Theatre in the late 1800's because it was around this area that the theatre was situated. The house on the corner with Bond Street was probably also part of the Theatre but was substantially altered in the mid-19^th century when the bow window on the Esplanade front was replaced by a three storey canted oriel (bay) with plain windows to moulded cornices and a full width modillion cornice to the top floor.
		Chesterfield Place is now occupied by the ugly, soulless back of Marks and Spencers but it once consisted of three tall bow-windowed houses that were linked at the north end with the old stone-gabled backs of the houses that surrounded the Black Dog public house in St. Mary's Street. The original houses were built around 1796 when Sir William Pulteney was given "....a lease of ground at the north end of York Buildings…." which allowed him to build Chesterfield Place and Johnstone Row. Tucked behind the Alexandra Gardens and away from the sea-front is Belle VueTerrace, built around 1795. Very little detail is now known about the five houses that were listed as a terrace in Wood’s Weymouth Guide of 1798, but it did include a "Castle House". Bell Vue was also listed on Harvey’s map of 1800.