The Grand Hotel, Brighton

A carte-de-visite showing a view of the Grand Hotel on the seafront in Brighton. Designed in Italianate style by architect John Whichcord Jr., the first stone was laid on 13 December 1862. Less than two years later, the hotel opened to the public on 18 July 1864. Its hydraulically powered lift - the 'upstairs omnibus' - was the third in the country, and the first to be installed in the United Kingdom outside London. The hotel comprised 300 bedrooms, as well as a ladies' coffee room, a gentlemen's coffee room, a ladies' reception room, a billiard room, a reading room, and a lavishly tiled conservatory. 'Fresh water baths are placed on every floor, and for salt-water swimming, and hot and cold salt-water baths, one of the most complete establishments in England directly communicates by a private door with the Hotel. Adjoining the Hotel, but entirely separate from it, a first-class restaurant is being constructed by the Company' (Brighton Gazette, 23 June 1864).

Photographed by Edward Fox of 44 Market Street, Brighton.