Midland Hotel, Morecambe

Midland Hotel
Midland Hotel
	Location within Morecambe
General information
Type	Hotel
Architectural style	Streamline Moderne
Town or city	Morecambe, Lancashire
Country	England
Coordinates	54°04′20″N2°52′31″W / 54.0721°N 2.8754°W
Opened	July 1933
Technical details
Material	Concrete and rendered brickwork
Floor count	3
Design and construction
Architect(s)	Oliver Hill
Renovating team
Architect(s)	Union North
Website
	midlandhotelmorecambe.com
Listed Building – Grade II*
Designated	8 October 1976
Reference no.	1208988

Last updated August 10, 2024

The Midland Hotel is a Streamline Moderne building in Morecambe, Lancashire, England. It was built by the London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS), in 1933, to the designs of architect Oliver Hill, with sculpture by Eric Gill, and murals by Eric Ravilious (subsequently destroyed).^[1]^[2] It is a Grade II* listed building. The hotel has been restored by Urban Splash with architects Union North, Northwest Regional Development Agency and Lancaster City Council.

Construction

The Midland Hotel was built to replace two earlier hotels: the North Western Hotel built in 1848 by the "little" North Western Railway, which had been renamed the Midland Hotel in 1871 when the Midland Railway took over the North Western Railway; and another hotel at Heysham, the Heysham Towers, which was converted from a private house in 1896.^[1]^[2] The Heysham Towers served railway steamer traffic from Heysham Harbour to Belfast; but it was not a success and was sold in 1919.^[1]

In 1932, the London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS) bought land from Morecambe Corporation to build the 40-bedroom Midland Hotel replacing the old hotel. It opened in July 1933.^[1]

The design

The hotel is designed in the Streamline Moderne style of Art Deco. Oliver Hill designed a three-storey curving building, with a central circular tower containing the entrance and a spiral staircase, and a circular café at the north end. The front of the hotel is decorated with two Art Deco seahorses, which can be viewed at close proximity from the hotel's rooftop terrace.

The hotel stands on the seafront with the convex side facing the sea, and the concave side facing inland. Hill designed the hotel to complement the curve of the promenade, which allowed guests to view spectacular panoramas of the North West coast.

The former Morecambe Promenade railway station, served by the railway company whose showcase hotel this was, is nearby.

War time use and disposal

During the Second World War the Midland Hotel, along with most of the large hotels and garages in the town, was requisitioned, either for the newly created RAF Station, RAF Morecambe or for the Civil Service.

The hotel became the station's hospital, opening on 17 February 1940. The Senior Medical Officer was Wing Commander R.C.L. Fisher. The hotel was stripped of its valuable carpets and rugs and the Gill mural was covered. By June 1941 the station magazine, Morecambe Wings was reporting that the hospital had already treated 3700 patients, including 160 major operations and 400 minor ones.

Also reported was the average attendance at the massage clinic of 33 people daily, but this was declining due to the end of the football season. Up to June 1941, over 1,000 airmen had been fitted with spectacles and over 100,000 had been inoculated or vaccinated. The hospital was visited in February 1941 by Princess Mary, Princess Royal, accompanied by Air Vice-Marshal William Tyrrell. At the time the station commander was Group Captain E. Hillman-Gray.^[3]

On nationalisation of the railways, ownership transferred to the British Transport Commission (BTC) on 1 January 1948 coming under the control of the BTC's Railway Executive; however on 1 July 1948, along with the other railway hotels, ownership was transferred to the BTC's Hotels Executive.^[4] It was sold by the BTC in 1952.^[1]

21st century

Union North were employed as architects by Urban Splash for the refurbishment and expansion of the hotel commencing in 2006. It opened its doors to the public in the summer of 2008.

In April 2009 Urban Splash announced a partnership with English Lakes Hotels to manage the Midland Hotel from 8 April 2009.^[5] Further developments on the Central Promenade were completed by Urban Splash.^[6] The mural by Ravilious had only lasted two years, until 1935, as a result of the poorly-finished plaster on which it was painted. It was temporarily reinstated for the filming of the Poirot episode in 1989, and a modified version was painted by the artist Jonquil Cook in 2013.^[7]

Other history

The 1960 film The Entertainer was filmed in Morecambe, and features the hotel.^[8] The hotel was used in filming episodes of the TV series Agatha Christie's Poirot , starring David Suchet, in 1989, most notably in the episode 'Double Sin' where Poirot has brought Captain Hastings to stimulate "the little grey cells."^[9] David Constantine's short story "Tea at the Midland" is set at the hotel, and begins with a debate about the work of Eric Gill.^[10]

Related Research Articles

The London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS) was a British railway company. It was formed on 1 January 1923 under the Railways Act 1921, which required the grouping of over 120 separate railways into four. The companies merged into the LMS included the London and North Western Railway, the Midland Railway, the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway, several Scottish railway companies, and numerous other, smaller ventures.

Heysham is a coastal village in the Lancaster district of Lancashire, England, overlooking Morecambe Bay. It is a ferry port, with services to the Isle of Man and Ireland, and the site of two nuclear power stations.

The London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS) was involved in the development of railway electrification of Britain. Like the LNER and the SR the LMS took over several schemes that had been developed by its constituent companies and also completed some of its own. All were suburban lines, in London, Liverpool and Manchester, and were usually steam lines converted to electric traction. Each service is listed below, showing dates of opening and the railway responsible for its conversion.

The Midland Railway experimented with electrification on its Heysham–Morecambe–Lancaster line in Lancashire, England. Electric trains started to run over this route in 1908, using the overhead 6.6 kV, 25 Hz AC electric supply installed and generated at the MR's own power station in Heysham.

The North Western Railway (NWR) was an early British railway company in the north-west of England. It was commonly known as the "Little" North Western Railway, to distinguish it from the larger London and North Western Railway (LNWR).

The Morecambe branch line is a railway line in Lancashire, England, from Lancaster to Morecambe and Heysham, where trains connect with ferries to Douglas, Isle of Man. To reach Heysham, trains must reverse at Morecambe.

Lancaster railway station is a railway station that serves the city of Lancaster in Lancashire, England. It is one of the principal stations on the West Coast Main Line. It is located 20 miles 78 chains (33.76 km) from Preston and is the zero point for mileages onward to Carlisle.

Heysham Port is a railway station on the Morecambe branch line, which runs between Lancaster and Heysham Port. The station, situated 7+3⁄4 miles (12 km) west of Lancaster, serves Heysham Port in Lancashire. It is owned by Network Rail and managed by Northern Trains.

Morecambe is a railway station on the Morecambe Branch Line, which runs between Lancaster and Heysham Port. The station, situated 4 miles (6 km) west of Lancaster, serves the town of Morecambe in Lancashire. It is owned by Network Rail and managed by Northern Trains.

Long Preston is a railway station on the Bentham Line, which runs between Leeds and Morecambe via Skipton. The station, situated 37+1⁄2 miles (60 km) north-west of Leeds, serves the village of Long Preston in North Yorkshire. It is owned by Network Rail and managed by Northern Trains.

Hellifield is a railway station on the Bentham Line, which runs between Leeds and Morecambe via Skipton. The station, situated 36 miles 17 chains (58.3 km) north-west of Leeds, serves the village of Hellifield, Craven in North Yorkshire, England. It is owned by Network Rail and managed by Northern Trains.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Morecambe</span> Town in England

Morecambe is a seaside town and civil parish in the City of Lancaster district of Lancashire, England, on Morecambe Bay, part of the Irish Sea. In 2011 the parish had a population of 34,768.

Morecambe Promenade Station was a railway station in Morecambe, Lancashire, England. It was opened on 24 March 1907 by the Midland Railway and closed in February 1994. After twelve weeks break in passenger service for the revision of track work and signalling a new Morecambe station was opened on a site closer to the town centre.

The Leeds–Morecambe line, also known as the Bentham line, is a railway line running between Leeds, Skipton, Lancaster and Morecambe in northern England. The service is operated by Northern. The route covered by the service was historically part of the Midland Railway. The line is electrified at 25 kV AC overhead between Leeds City and Skipton- this section is known as the Airedale line.

Eric Gill works at the Midland Hotel, Morecambe include a sculpture, reliefs and a medallion.

Heysham Port is situated by the village of Heysham, Lancashire, England. The harbour ships mainly roll-on/roll-off freight with one passenger service run by the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company, which operates a twice daily sailing to Isle of Man. There are three freight routes run by Seatruck Ferries and Stena Line which all sail to Ireland daily. The passenger terminal has a rail service which links to Lancaster via Morecambe. Also adjacent to the dock site is a Heysham nuclear power station which was built between 1970 and 1988.

Morecambe Euston Road was the terminus station of the London and North Western Railway's branch line to Morecambe, in Lancashire, England. It closed in 1962, after which all trains to Morecambe used the nearby Morecambe Promenade station.

The North Western Hotel in Morecambe, Lancashire, England, was built in 1847–48. It was designed by the Lancaster architects Paley and Austin for the "Little" North Western Railway. Including furnishings, it cost £4,795. It was a two-storey building containing 40 bedrooms. In 1871, when the railway became part of the Midland Railway, its name was changed to the Midland Hotel. It was demolished and replaced by a new hotel, also called the Midland Hotel, in 1932.

The Park Hotel was a railway-owned hotel at East Cliff, Preston, Lancashire, England, used for many years as offices, but now being restored as a hotel.

The first Morecambe railway station was located on Northumberland Street, in the seaside town of Morecambe, Lancashire, England.

References

1 2 3 4 5 Carter, Oliver (1990). An illustrated history of British Railway Hotels: 1838-1983. St Michael's: Silver Link Publishing. ISBN 0-947971-36-X
1 2 Simmons, Jack and Biddle, Gordon (1997). The Oxford Companion to British Railway History: From 1603 to the 1990s. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-211697-5.
↑ The Midland Hotel, Morecambe's White Hope
↑ Skelsey, Geoffrey (2006). "Famous Hotel-Keepers for over a century: British Railway Hotels under State Ownership, 1948-84". In: Back Track, Volume 20, No. 7 (July 2006). Pp 390 - 399. ISSN 0955-5382.
↑ English Lakes Hotels News Archive Archived 27 May 2010 at the Wayback Machine
↑ "Splash 'committed' to finishing Morecambe scheme". Place North West. 19 August 2010. Retrieved 6 September 2010.
↑ "BBC News: Work under way on mural at Morecambe's Midland Hotel, 9 November 2013" . Retrieved 26 January 2021.
↑ "The Midland: Film and Television location shoots" . Retrieved 26 January 2021.
↑ Article in The Visitor
↑ "The Midland: Film and Television location shoots" . Retrieved 26 January 2021.

External links

English Lakes Hotels
The Midland Hotel Website
Friends of the Midland Hotel site
Information on the original Architect - Oliver Hill (archived October 2014)
The Midland Hotel at Morecambe, October 2001, The Twentieth Century Society

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[carter-1] 1 2 3 4 5 Carter, Oliver (1990). An illustrated history of British Railway Hotels: 1838-1983. St Michael's: Silver Link Publishing. ISBN 0-947971-36-X

[S&B-2] 1 2 Simmons, Jack and Biddle, Gordon (1997). The Oxford Companion to British Railway History: From 1603 to the 1990s. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-211697-5.

[3] The Midland Hotel, Morecambe's White Hope

[skelsey-4] Skelsey, Geoffrey (2006). "Famous Hotel-Keepers for over a century: British Railway Hotels under State Ownership, 1948-84". In: Back Track, Volume 20, No. 7 (July 2006). Pp 390 - 399. ISSN 0955-5382.

[5] English Lakes Hotels News Archive Archived 27 May 2010 at the Wayback Machine

[6] "Splash 'committed' to finishing Morecambe scheme". Place North West. 19 August 2010. Retrieved 6 September 2010.

[7] "BBC News: Work under way on mural at Morecambe's Midland Hotel, 9 November 2013" . Retrieved 26 January 2021.

[8] "The Midland: Film and Television location shoots" . Retrieved 26 January 2021.

[9] Article in The Visitor

[10] "The Midland: Film and Television location shoots" . Retrieved 26 January 2021.

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