Listed Building: RIVIERA HOTEL (467299)

WEYMOUTH SY78SW BOWLEAZE COVEWAY 873-1/3/32 (South side) 28/01/97 Riviera Hotel II Hotel. 1937, by L Stewart Smith. Reinforced concrete, using the Mouchel/Hennebique system, undertaken by Truscon Ltd. Rendered, asphaltic flat roofs. PLAN: a symmetrical building with central administration and amenities block, including large dining room and kitchens complex with tower flanked by 2 long arcs of bedrooms on 2 storeys; originally this area included the dance floor but a later (c1960) ballroom has been attached behind the S wing, and the original entrance has to the W a later small 1-storey flat-roofed office addition sympathetic to the original scheme. EXTERIOR: slender square tower has a recessed panel to each face, with a 'keystone' above RIVIERA inscribed vertically on the panel. Below this the reception block has to each side of wide glazed entrance doors and panels 4 large arched casements with radial heads, set behind the added small block with 3 steel casements to the front and 2 on the S return. Large glazed doors give access in the re-entrant on the N side. To each side is a 2-arched section brought forward from the continous arcs of bedrooms in 29 bays; of these the outer 11 bays in each case embrace 2 floors, with set-back decorative 'Spanish' balcony railings above the floor slab which is also recessed. The inner 18 bays have arches at each level, with a deep continuous spandrel registering the floor slab as a projecting string course, and simple railings at the upper level. The plain square dividing piers have a plinth approx 1m high. The balcony promenade, stepped slightly at the change in outer detail, and on a single step at the ground floor, is backed by a wall with 2- and 3-light steel casements in a complex rhythm alternating with 6-panel doors with raised mouldings. A concrete staircase at bay 11 from each end, and external steel staircases at the outer ends. The rear wall to the arcs is completely plain, with a simple cornice band. HISTORICAL NOTE: this building epitomises the austere approach of the modernists in the immediate pre-war era, and suggests the designer's acquaintance with contemporary work in Rome and elsewhere. The dining and dance hall, approx 24m x 12m, had a clear span, effected by using a 'diagrid' concrete ceiling structure. The cost was approximately »40,000, including fittings. The report of 20 February 1937 in the 'Southern Times', shortly before the hotel was due to be opened, also refers to a concrete pier '... to be built in the cove.' The building has a commanding site overlooking the whole of Weymouth Bay, and, with the exception of the ballroom, retains the purity of its original conception in the landscape. Listing NGR: SY7052181935

Record last edited

Mar 23 2017 3:50PM