The Midland Hotel is a

Streamline Moderne Streamline Moderne is an international style of Art Deco architecture and design that emerged in the 1930s. Inspired by Aerodynamics, aerodynamic design, it emphasized curving forms, long horizontal lines, and sometimes nautical elements. In indu ...

building in

Morecambe 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. Name The first use of the name was by John Whit ...

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

, England. It was built by the

London, Midland and Scottish Railway The London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMSIt has been argued that the initials LMSR should be used to be consistent with London and North Eastern Railway, LNER, Great Western Railway, GWR and Southern Railway (UK), SR. The London, Midland an ...

(LMS), in 1933, to the designs of architect Oliver Hill, with sculpture by

Eric Gill Arthur Eric Rowton Gill (22 February 1882 – 17 November 1940) was an English sculptor, letter cutter, typeface designer, and printmaker. Although the ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' describes Gill as "the greatest artist-craftsma ...

, and murals by

Eric Ravilious Eric William Ravilious (22 July 1903 – 2 September 1942) was a British painter, designer, book illustrator and wood-engraver. He grew up in Sussex, and is particularly known for his watercolours of the South Downs, Castle Hedingham and othe ...

(subsequently destroyed).Carter, Oliver (1990). ''An illustrated history of British Railway Hotels: 1838-1983''. St Michael's: Silver Link Publishing. Simmons, Jack and Biddle, Gordon (1997). ''The Oxford Companion to British Railway History: From 1603 to the 1990s''. Oxford:

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...

. . It is a Grade II*

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

. The hotel has been restored by

Urban Splash Urban Splash is a UK-based Real estate development, property development business. It was founded in 1993 by chairman Tom Bloxham and creative director Jonathan Falkingham. Headquartered in Castlefield, Manchester, it also has regional bases in ...

with architects Union North, Northwest Regional Development Agency and

Lancaster City Council The City of Lancaster, or simply ''Lancaster'' (), is a local government district with city status in Lancashire, England. It is named after its largest settlement, Lancaster, and also includes the towns of Carnforth, Heysham and Morecambe and ...

Construction

The Midland Hotel was built to replace two earlier hotels: the North Western Hotel built in 1848 by the

"little" North Western Railway 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 was ...

, which had been renamed the ''Midland Hotel'' in 1871 when the

Midland Railway The Midland Railway (MR) was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1844 in rail transport, 1844. The Midland was one of the largest railway companies in Britain in the early 20th century, and the largest employer in Derby, where it had ...

took over the North Western Railway; and another hotel at

Heysham 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. History Of historic ...

, the ''Heysham Towers'', which was converted from a private house in 1896. The ''Heysham Towers'' served railway steamer traffic from Heysham Harbour to

Belfast Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...

; but it was not a success and was sold in 1919. In 1932, the

(LMS) bought land from Morecambe Corporation to build the 40-bedroom Midland Hotel replacing the old hotel. It opened in July 1933.

The design

Eric Gill seahorse-Midland Hotel Morecombe

The hotel is designed in the

style of

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French (), is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design that first Art Deco in Paris, appeared in Paris in the 1910s just before World War I and flourished in the United States and Europe during the 1920 ...

. 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

seahorse A seahorse (also written ''sea-horse'' and ''sea horse'') is any of 46 species of small marine Osteichthyes, bony fish in the genus ''Hippocampus''. The genus name comes from the Ancient Greek (), itself from () meaning "horse" and () meanin ...

s, 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 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 ...

, served by the railway company whose showcase hotel this was, is nearby.

War time use and disposal

During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

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 A vaccine is a biological Dosage form, preparation that provides active acquired immunity to a particular infectious disease, infectious or cancer, malignant disease. The safety and effectiveness of vaccines has been widely studied and verifi ...

. 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. On

nationalisation Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization contrasts with priv ...

of the railways, ownership transferred to the

British Transport Commission The British Transport Commission (BTC) was created by Clement Attlee's post-war Labour government as a part of its nationalisation programme, to oversee railways, canals and road freight transport in Great Britain (Northern Ireland had the s ...

(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.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. . It was sold by the BTC in 1952.

21st century

Union North were employed as architects by

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. Further developments on the Central Promenade were completed by Urban Splash. 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.

Other history

The 1960 film ''

The Entertainer ''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The ...

'' was filmed in Morecambe, and features the hotel. The hotel was used in filming episodes of the TV series ''

Agatha Christie's Poirot ''Agatha Christie's Poirot'', or simply ''Poirot'' (), is a British mystery drama television programme that aired on ITV from 8 January 1989 to 13 November 2020. The ITV show is based on many of Agatha Christie's famous crime fiction series, wh ...

'', starring

David Suchet Sir David Courtney Suchet ( ; born 2 May 1946) is an English actor. He is known for his work on stage and in television. He portrayed Edward Teller in the television serial '' Oppenheimer'' (1980) and received the RTS and BPG awards for his pe ...

, in 1989, most notably in the episode 'Double Sin' where Poirot has brought Captain Hastings to stimulate "the little grey cells."

David Constantine David John Constantine (born 1944) is an English poet, short story writer, novelist, and translator. Life and career Born in Salford, Constantine read Modern Languages at Wadham College, Oxford, and was a Fellow of The Queen's College, Oxford, ...

's short story "Tea at the Midland" is set at the hotel, and begins with a debate about the work of Eric Gill.

References

External links

English Lakes HotelsThe Midland Hotel WebsiteFriends of the Midland Hotel siteInformation on the original Architect - Oliver Hill
(archived October 2014)

October 2001, The Twentieth Century Society {{City of Lancaster buildings Hotel buildings completed in 1933 Art Deco architecture in England Art Deco hotels Buildings and structures in Morecambe Grade II* listed buildings in Lancashire Hotels established in 1933 Hotels in Lancashire Railway hotels in England Streamline Moderne architecture in the United Kingdom Oliver Hill (architect) buildings Structures formerly on the Heritage at Risk register Grade II* listed hotels