Castle Hotel, Conwy

The hotel stands on the site of a former Cistercian abbey. Until the 1880s it was occupied by a public house, the King's Head, dating from the 15th century, and the Castle Hotel.[2] In 1885 the building was completely remodelled by the Chester firm of architects Douglas and Fordham. The whole building was developed into a hotel, and a new section was added.[1] The hotel has been visited by a number of well-known guests, including Thomas Telford, William Wordsworth, and the Queen of Romania, who lunched in the restaurant.[2]

Seen from High Street, the hotel is in three sections, each of which has three storeys. To the left is a single-bay section, the former public house; the central section, developed from the older hotel, has four bays; and the section to the right, added in 1885, has three bays. The whole building is in Renaissance style.[1] When Douglas and Fordham remodelled the building, they used small broken pieces of limestone as a facing material, giving the frontage a flint-like appearance. The dressings of the windows are in brick and terracotta.[3] The central bay is in red ashlar sandstone and the roof is tiled.[1]

For many years the hotel was run by companies based in London. Since 2000 it has been in private ownership.[4]

• List of houses and associated buildings by John Douglas