The Palace’s historic and architectural importance is summarised as: i. It is an impressive example of monumental seaside architecture which gives the appearance of an ocean liner stranded on the shore. The overall impact of its architecture and scale within the townscape gives this building special architectural interest. ii. Its scale and elevated position make the Hotel a dominant feature of Southend’s seaside townscape and the building serves as an important historic landmark for the resort and for the Thames Estuary Gateway to London, viewed from both land and sea. iii. It is a crucial element in the setting of the regenerated Pier Hill and Pier entrance. iv. It is one of the few surviving examples of development during the major period of
Southend’s growth into London’s premier seaside resort and nationally the second largest resort after Blackpool. v. Historically, it links with the Georgian Royal Hotel and Royal Terrace as an attempt to move the resort up-market with superior accommodation and facilities. vi. Few seaside resort hotels of the Palace Hotel’s monumental scale and townscape dominance survive from this period. vii. It forms part of a group of historic buildings demonstrating the development of the resort from its early origins to the Edwardian resort of national importance. viii. It played a nationally important role during both World Wars as the Queen Mary Royal
Naval Hospital in World War I and the Thames Naval Control Service HQ in World War II for Thames shipping to and from London, for Thames defence & for east coast convoys.
The Pier, Palace Hotel and Royal Terrace comprise a group of buildings which played a crucial historic role in the war effort and the supply of London
An outline of its architectural development is:
1. The building was designed in 1896 by the local architectural practice Thompson & Greenhalgh
(James Thompson and John Greenhalgh). It was substantially completed by 1901 and eventually opened as the Hotel Metropole in 1904.
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It is a monolithic building of six storeys increasing to eight on the lower part of the Pier Hill frontage, steel framed and built in brick with smooth rendered finish, and simple rendered banding, window hoods and cornice detail. The original design included a tower to the south-west corner and tourelles to the south and north elevations, some of which remain although in a truncated form.
The Hotel’s triangular plot and its long south frontage facing the seafront, and the site’s sloping topography led to a building plan around an enclosed open well area and a different elevational treatment for the three main elevations (west, south and north).
4. The narrow west elevation is dominated by the original tiered balconies and iron balustrading and columns which give a strong vertical design emphasis. The first to third floors have curved bays.
The original French doors, casement windows and fanlights mostly remain. This elevation provided one of the two original main entrances to the hotel at ground floor level. The entrance was subsequently enclosed with a vestibule, in 1924, which itself has been replaced by a relatively modern structure. This entrance has now been partitioned off from the main body of the hotel and gives access only to the existing ground floor bingo hall. Rooms above provided public lounges and private suites. The first floor ‘ladies coffee room’ is now subdivided but the decorated ceiling remains with motifs of Queen Mary, probably commemorating her visit in 1914.

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Design of the south elevation reflects the hierarchy of the Hotel’s original uses with the upper floors generally having reduced levels detailing and emphasis. This has helped produce a strong horizontal design emphasis which contrasts with the west elevation.
The original building provided an open ‘colonnade’ to the ground floor projecting from the main south façade, which provided a public promenade facing but above Pier Hill with shops and refreshment rooms within the body of the hotel opening onto it to. The colonnade was accessed by steps from Pier Hill. It was enclosed in 1908 to form a winter garden, with a timber screen set back behind the original cast iron balustrade. The screen comprised windows, bays and doors opening onto what now became a continuous narrow balcony, and external bench seats. The screen and balustrade remain mostly intact. The windows and doors are a typical Edwardian mix of casements, sliding sashes and fanlights with small paned glazing in the upper sections.
Internally, the shops / refreshment rooms were combined to provide communal rooms (palmery, lounge and refreshment room) opening directly onto the winter garden. Party walls between the units were replaced by decorated arches. The winter garden and communal rooms are now in use as a bingo hall. The arches remain exposed and much of the ceiling detail remains behind the modern lowered ceiling.
Below the colonnade were shop units facing onto the upper part of Pier Hill and hotel service accommodation facing onto but above the lower part of Pier Hill. Below this service accommodation were further shops opening onto Pier Hill.
At first floor level, extending over the full length of the colonnade, was a conservatory (also described as the winter gardens) with continuous glazing and a curved lead (?) roof. The hotel’s main dining room and drawing rooms opened into the conservatory. The conservatory originally had four projecting bays. The main structure remains, but windows and bays have been replaced mostly with metal casement windows and a continuous weatherboarding above and below the windows. The conservatory was subdivided into bedrooms, possibly in the 1950s. But the internal public rooms (dining and drawing rooms) remain with much of their ceiling and wall detailing.
The lower levels, ground and first floors extend eastwards beyond the east wall of the main hotel building, to adjoin the flank of the neighbouring building on Pier Hill.
The second and third floor frontages have roughly similar designs, largely unaltered from the original. Rooms were grouped into hotel suites with canted bays opening onto a continuous balcony with cast iron balustrade. The third floor balcony has a continuous canopy supported on cast iron columns. Each bay has two central casement windows and fanlights with doors to the canted sides. Between the bays are pairs of sliding sash windows without glazing bars.
Fourth and fifth floors are without balconies and have a regular fenestration of sliding sash windows without glazing bars. Each window served one separate bedroom.
The relatively plain and regular fenestration of the north and east elevations reflects the type of accommodation behind them: ground floor reception and circulation areas, billiard and reading rooms, first floor banqueting hall, service areas and circulation areas, and bedrooms on the floors above. The north elevation is roughly symmetrical with a regular spacing of sliding sash windows.
The second main entrance to the original hotel is at the centre of the elevation and emphasised by an iron and glazed canopy and a slightly projecting bay to the first floor. These remain but the entrance is closed.
A replacement entrance was formed to the west which now provides the only entrance to the hotel. An entrance to the first floor banqueting hall is at the east end of this elevation with a smaller iron and glazed canopy. The billiard room and banqueting halls have bays. A glazed ground floor addition with concave felted roof was added in the 1980s, but otherwise the north elevation is largely unaltered.
Internally, the grand staircase between the ground and first floor was replaced c. 1937 by a flight below the main staircase from the first floor upwards. This staircase (i.e. from the first floor upwards) remains, although the balusters were enclosed or replaced in c. 1937.

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In addition to the surviving internal detail already mentioned, other features of note include the doors and fireplaces to the original bedrooms, the original communal bathrooms and toilets facing onto the well area with floor and wall tiles, ceiling and wall detailing to the billiard room and banqueting hall and the fireplace to the banqueting hall.
Although altered over the years, much of the original or early detail survives, sometimes behind partitions or ceilings, and is capable of retention or restoration as part of the building’s future regeneration.