Morley's Hotel was a building which occupied the entire eastern side of London's

Trafalgar Square Trafalgar Square ( ) is a public square in the City of Westminster, Central London, laid out in the early 19th century around the area formerly known as Charing Cross. At its centre is a high column bearing a statue of Admiral Nelson comm ...

, until it was demolished in 1936 and replaced with South Africa House. It was next to

St Martin-in-the-Fields St Martin-in-the-Fields is a Church of England parish church at the north-east corner of Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, London. It is dedicated to Saint Martin of Tours. There has been a church on the site since at least the mediev ...

Church. It was designed by the architect George Ledwell Taylor, and originally developed as apartments. It was built by

Atkinson Morley Atkinson Morley (1781 - 14 July 1858) was a British hotelier. He was responsible for Morley's Hotel, designed by George Ledwell Taylor and which occupied the entire eastern side of London's Trafalgar Square, from 1832, until it was demolished in 19 ...

in 1831, who in 1822 owned the British Hotel (also known as the

British Coffee House The British Coffee House was a coffeehouse at 27 Cockspur Street, London. It is known to have existed in 1722, and was run in 1759 by a sister of John Douglas (bishop of Salisbury), and then by Mrs. Anderson, and was particularly popular with t ...

) at 25

Cockspur Street Cockspur Street is a short street in the City of Westminster, London, within which a very short part of Trafalgar Square links Charing Cross to Pall Mall/Pall Mall East at the point where that road changes name, opposite the traffic exit from ...

, but had sold it to buy the Burlington Hotel at 19–20

Cork Street Cork Street is a street in Mayfair in the West End of London, England, with many contemporary art galleries, and was previously associated with the tailoring industry. It is part of the Burlington Estate, which was developed from the 18th centu ...

. Morley's Hotel opened in 1832. In 1850, in his ''Hand-Book of London'', Peter Cunningham described it as "well-frequented, and is good of its kind". Sir Arthur Conan Doyle stayed there for some time in 1900, while he was writing ''

The Hound of the Baskervilles ''The Hound of the Baskervilles'' is the third of the four crime novels by British writer Arthur Conan Doyle featuring the detective Sherlock Holmes. Originally serialised in ''The Strand Magazine'' from August 1901 to April 1902, it is se ...

'', and the fictional ''Northumberland Hotel'' of that book may well have been based on Morley's. He wrote to his mother in 1900 that he was "somewhat sick" of Morley's and intended to try the Golden Cross Hotel.

References

Defunct hotels in London Buildings and structures in the City of Westminster Trafalgar Square Demolished buildings and structures in London Buildings and structures demolished in 1936 {{UK-hotel-struct-stub