© www.dover-kent.co.uk 2022
Dover: Lock and Key of the Kingdom
The Grand Hotel
In 1893, Wellesley Terrace, a block of houses built in 1846, was
converted into the Grand Hotel. The hotel was in a lovely
location, at right angles to the Seafront on Wellesley Road,
overlooking the Granville Gardens and Camden Crescent. The
Rifles Monument was erected in 1861 as a memorial to the
men of the 60th Rifles killed in the Indian Mutiny of 1857.
On 11th September 1940 the hotel was badly damaged by a
bomb. Newspaper journalists had been staying at the hotel
since the Second World War began and some of them were
trapped in the wreckage. One reporter, Guy Murchie of the
Chicago Tribune, telephoned his story to his paper and it
appeared in the next day's edition:
"I held my arms over my head instinctively. Everything went
black. I was fully conscious as the floor fell away under my
feet.... I expected to land on the next floor, but, to my
surprise, I kept falling for many seconds.... Then I landed....
Gradually the air grew lighter as the smoke and soot settled.
And I could see that I was tangled in a mass of timbers. The
remaining jagged walls towered upwards some 50 feet, and I
was acutely aware of the possibility of one of them falling on
me. I climbed out of the debris, elated to be alive."
After the war the Grand Hotel Company wished to rebuild the
hotel. In 1946 there was an inquiry led by the Ministry of Town
and Country Planning after the owners appealed when the
Corporation refused to allow them to spend £38,000 on
restoration because it was in the way of their plan for a new
Seafront. The hotel owners lost the appeal and their repeated
requests over the next three years were all refused.
In 1949 the owners served notice on the Corporation requiring
the Corporation to purchase the premises under the provisions
of the Town and County Planning Act, 1917. This request was
refused but eventually Dover Corporation paid £4,300 for the
hotel ruins. In August 1951 the ruins were finally demolished.
location, at right angles to the Seafront on Wellesley Road,
overlooking the Granville Gardens and Camden Crescent. The
Rifles Monument was erected in 1861 as a memorial to the
men of the 60th Rifles killed in the Indian Mutiny of 1857.
On 11th September 1940 the hotel was badly damaged by a
bomb. Newspaper journalists had been staying at the hotel
since the Second World War began and some of them were
trapped in the wreckage. One reporter, Guy Murchie of the
Chicago Tribune, telephoned his story to his paper and it
appeared in the next day's edition:
"I held my arms over my head instinctively. Everything went
black. I was fully conscious as the floor fell away under my
feet.... I expected to land on the next floor, but, to my
surprise, I kept falling for many seconds.... Then I landed....
Gradually the air grew lighter as the smoke and soot settled.
And I could see that I was tangled in a mass of timbers. The
remaining jagged walls towered upwards some 50 feet, and I
was acutely aware of the possibility of one of them falling on
me. I climbed out of the debris, elated to be alive."
After the war the Grand Hotel Company wished to rebuild the
hotel. In 1946 there was an inquiry led by the Ministry of Town
and Country Planning after the owners appealed when the
Corporation refused to allow them to spend £38,000 on
restoration because it was in the way of their plan for a new
Seafront. The hotel owners lost the appeal and their repeated
requests over the next three years were all refused.
In 1949 the owners served notice on the Corporation requiring
the Corporation to purchase the premises under the provisions
of the Town and County Planning Act, 1917. This request was
refused but eventually Dover Corporation paid £4,300 for the
hotel ruins. In August 1951 the ruins were finally demolished.
