Royal Hotel, Birmingham

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Coordinates: 52°28′52″N 1°53′48″W / 52.4811°N 1.8968°W / 52.4811; -1.8968
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Engraving of the Hotel in 1800

The Royal Hotel, originally just The Hotel, was a hotel located on Temple Row in Birmingham, England. Opened in 1772, it was the first establishment in Birmingham to describe itself as a "hotel", a new term entering usage around this time to denote a more fashionable and genteel establishment than the more traditional inn.[1]

Notable guests who stayed at the hotel included

Lord Nelson,[2] the Duke of Gloucester and Queen Victoria.[1] As well as accommodation for visitors, the hotel included assembly rooms that formed Birmingham's main meeting place for polite social gatherings during the later part of the Midlands Enlightenment.[3] 80 feet long and 30 feet wide, the assembly rooms included an organ and space for an orchestra, and were decorated in a "tasteful and decorative manner" with three large chandeliers, six large mirrors and five cut glass lustres designed to reflect candlelight throughout the room.[1] The room was accessed through a "spacious saloon" and up a grand staircase.[1]

Orange ticket reads "French Revolution Dinner. This Ticket Admits to Bearer to Dine at the Hotel, On Thursday, July 14, 1791."
Ticket for the dinner at the Hotel celebrating the second anniversary of the storming of the Bastille on 14 July 1791 that led to the Priestley Riots

The building of the hotel was motivated by criticism of

Lloyds Bank; and Lunar Society member Thomas Day.[5]

The principal events of the social season at the hotel during its early years were its Subscription Dancing Assemblies, and series of concerts held by Jeremiah Clark and the Birmingham Dilettanti Musical Society.[3] In 1788 these were combined to form a single social season which featured six concerts and balls held every month during the winter, with card and dancing assemblies during the intervening fortnights, and a separate season of monthly concerts during the summer.[3] From 1790 the hotel was one of the venues for the Birmingham Triennial Music Festival.[6]

On 14 July 1791 the hotel was the venue for the dinner to celebrate the storming of the Bastille that was to lead to the Priestley Riots,[2] and on 14 December 1829 it was the site of the founding of Thomas Attwood's Birmingham Political Union.[2]

The hotel retained an upmarket reputation throughout its existence,[1] but with only three shares remaining and the lease on the hotel expiring, the tontine was wound up in 1861 and the hotel sold for redevelopment.[5]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Coles-Harris, Jenni (4 October 2012), "Staying in Style: The Hotel", Birmingham's Georgian & Regency Streets - an unguided tour, retrieved 9 March 2013
  2. ^ a b c d Selgin, George A. (2008), A Ramble 'Round Old Birmingham, Auburn, AL: Ludwig von Mises Institute, retrieved 9 March 2013
  3. ^
    ISBN 0719006724
    , retrieved 9 March 2013
  4. ^ Pendleton, Muriel (2010), From bullbaiting to theater and oratorio attending: The cultural development of Birmingham during the eighteenth century, Long Beach, CA: California State University, pp. 27–28, retrieved 9 March 2013
  5. ^ a b Raine, Sydney (April–May 1953), "M&B Houses ~ The Old Royal Temple Row", The Deerstalker, vol. 5, no. 4, Birmingham: Mitchells & Butlers, retrieved 9 February 2013
  6. ISBN 0719006724
    , retrieved 9 March 2013

52°28′52″N 1°53′48″W / 52.4811°N 1.8968°W / 52.4811; -1.8968

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