26302

 

II  

Designated  

03/03/1961  

28/03/2002  

The Atlantic Hotel and area railings  

 

Pembrokeshire  

Tenby  

Tenby  

 

213349  

200154  

 

Facing the sea on the NE corner of The Esplanade and Picton Street.  

Domestic  

 

The South Cliff area of Tenby was laid out on a grid pattern in 1864 by J H Shipway, engineer, on former Tuder estate land. The houses were not built to Shipway's design, the architect may have been F Wehnert, who did similar schemes for Milford Haven and Llandudno. The Esplanade was the principal seafront terrace, developed mostly in the 1870s. The Atlantic Hotel comprises the last three of a terrace of 6 houses of c1875, then numbered 4, 5 and 6, but only No 4 remains as built for the left two were radically altered in 1913-14 to make a single house, called Trayles. The top two floors were removed, the facades altered, and the interiors remodelled for Warren de la Rue, wealthy race-horse owner, to designs by D W Pollock of London. De la Rue owned Trayles, winner of the Ascot Gold Cup, Alexandra Plate and Goodwood Cup in 1889 and the house was named after the horse, whose carved head appears over the door. The house was built with an electric power house behind, electricity coming from a coke-fired generator. This was 3 years before Tenby was supplied. The interior woodwork including doors and fireplaces were in Spanish mahogany. An Italian sun terrace was built into the cliff face below the house, used by De la Rue for calculations relating to tides and the visible horizon, which were published. De la Rue died in 1921 and the house was sold and became the Atlantic Hotel. No 4, then the Carrington Hotel was annexed in 1960. No 6 is recorded as to let, therefore complete, in 1876. It was occupied by Captain Plummer RN before 1913.  

Hotel, formerly three houses, of which only the right one remains as built, the other two reduced in height by 2 storeys in 1914 in conversion to a single private house. The right house is stucco with slate roof, basement and four storeys and attic, two-window range, right side with a full-height stucco canted bay, the left with single windows over door. The house is a mirrored pair with the third in the terrace, now part of Clarence House Hotel. C20 dormers behind parapet with inset mouldings with rebated angles in sunk panels. Cambered headed windows in moulded surrounds to upper two floors, arched French windows opening onto a continuous iron balcony on the first floor, with moulded arched heads, plain fanlights and pilaster sides. Ground floor has channelled rustication and plain square heads to windows and door. First floor balcony is on iron brackets and has attractive slightly Gothic iron railings, akin to earlier C19 designs. Plastic fixed door replaces panelled door with overlight. Basement sash windows. Fleur-de-lys heads to iron railings. Rear has sashes to left, paired sashes to right, mostly 12-pane. The former Trayles to left is only 2 storeys high with steep slate roof of small slates, high centre rendered ridge stack and 6 attic dormers behind parapet, the outer dormers 1-light, the rest 3-light. Moulded modillion cornice, and 2-storey bay window to either side of 2-window centre (the spacing showing the origin of the house as a mirrored pair of houses). Windows are horned plate glass sashes in moulded stucco surrounds, eared except to narrower windows on sides of the bays. In the fourth bay the window is lengthened as a French window over square stucco enclosed porch with C20 iron railing above and ornate arched doorcase with laurel-leaf moulding in marble and horse-head keystone. Dentilled plaque inscribed 'Trayles'. Iron double gates, double panelled half-glazed heavy doors with overlight within. Three cast-iron rainwater heads with rosette motifs. Area railings of c1913 with wrought-iron scrolled intermittent panels. Left end has renewed canted oriel to first floor left and 2 plate glass sashes to ground floor and another to first floor centre. Short section to left has similar window over door with ornate corniced hood on massive console brackets. C20 flat-roofed wing to left, along Picton Terrace. Rear has gable to left, C20 single-storey additions.  

Altered cornices to entrance hall. Stair to rear right has thin turned balusters , square newels and scrolled tread ends. Rail curved out at landings. Left room has moulded dentil cornice and timber C18 style fireplace with scroll and shell frieze, dentil cornice and shouldered surround to white marble frame to arched cast-iron grate. Hardwood double panelled doors in moulded frame on N wall. Right hand room has moulded cornice, 4-panel hardwood door in moulded frame and C18 style timber fireplace with plaque flanked by scrolls in frieze and shouldered surround to fine coloured marble frame to cast-iron grate. Tiled curved cheeks each side of grate. Former Carrington Hotel has stick baluster stair with fat bulbous newel, typical of c1875.  

Included as a part of one of the main terraces on The Esplanade and for the early C20 conversion of Trayles.