The Roseate Reading Hotel (formerly the Forbury Hotel) is a boutique hotel in

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of symbols, often specifically those of a written language, by means of Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifacete ...

Berkshire Berkshire ( ; abbreviated ), officially the Royal County of Berkshire, is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Oxfordshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the north-east, Greater London ...

, England. It is situated in the Forbury, formerly a part of

Reading Abbey Reading Abbey is a large, ruined abbey in the centre of the town of Reading, in the English county of Berkshire. It was founded by Henry I in 1121 "for the salvation of my soul, and the souls of King William, my father, and of King William, ...

, and on the southern side of the modern

Forbury Gardens Forbury Gardens is a public park in the town of Reading in the English county of Berkshire. The park is on the site of the outer court of Reading Abbey, which was in front of the Abbey Church. The site was formerly known as the Forbury, and one o ...

. The building that forms the front section of the hotel was the Shire Hall for the

County of Berkshire Berkshire ( ; abbreviated ), officially the Royal County of Berkshire, is a ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Oxfordshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the north-east, Greater London to the east, Surrey to the sout ...

, built in 1911 and used as such until 1981, and 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, H ...

History

Since

Berkshire County Council Berkshire County Council, also known as the County Council of the Royal County of Berkshire, was the county council for Berkshire in England. It was created in 1889 and abolished in 1998. The council had responsibilities for education, social ...

had been formed in 1889, meetings of the full council had taken place in the

assize courts The assizes (), or courts of assize, were periodic courts held around England and Wales until 1972, when together with the quarter sessions they were abolished by the Courts Act 1971 and replaced by a single permanent Crown Court. The assizes ex ...

. Following continuing increases in the responsibilities of the county council, county leaders chose to procure a new purpose-built Shire Hall for council officers and their departments: the site selected on the southern side of

had been occupied by buildings associated with the Royal Berkshire Seed Establishment. The new building, which was designed by Septimus Warwick and H Austen Hall in the Queen Anne style, was built by E. C. Hughes of

Wokingham Wokingham ( ) is a market town and civil parish in Berkshire, England. It is the main administrative centre of the wider Borough of Wokingham. At the 2021 census the parish had a population of 38,284 and the wider built-up area had a populati ...

and opened as the Shire Hall in 1911. The design involved a symmetrical main frontage with five bays facing onto The Forbury; the ground floor, which was faced in

Portland stone Portland stone is a limestone geological formation (formally named the Portland Stone Formation) dating to the Tithonian age of the Late Jurassic that is quarried on the Isle of Portland in Dorset, England. The quarries are cut in beds of whi ...

, featured a three-bay

portico A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls. This idea was widely used in ancient Greece and has influenced many cu ...

in antis An anta (pl. antæ, antae, or antas; Latin, possibly from ''ante'', "before" or "in front of"), or sometimes parastas (pl. parastades), is a term in classical architecture describing the posts or pillars on either side of a doorway or entrance of ...

with

Doric order The Doric order is one of the three orders of ancient Greek and later Roman architecture; the other two canonical orders were the Ionic and the Corinthian. The Doric is most easily recognized by the simple circular capitals at the top of t ...

columns while the first and second floors featured

casement window A casement window is a window that is attached to its frame by one or more hinges at the side. They are used singly or in pairs within a common frame, in which case they are hinged on the outside. Casement windows are often held open using a c ...

s with a red brick background. The building accommodated the administrative staff of Berkshire County Council while full council meetings continued to be held in the assize courts next door. In 1981 the council moved to a new Shire Hall at Shinfield Park and subsequently the building was converted for commercial use. After renovations led by the Waterbridge Group, a developer, it re-opened as the Forbury Hotel in 2006. The council chamber was converted into a restaurant known as the "Eden Room". In 2009 the owners got into financial difficulties and the hotel was placed in administration. After being bought out of administration by Von Essen, it was acquired by the Bird Group in 2017. Then, after the conversion of 17 apartments into 34 additional hotel bedrooms which was undertaken at a cost of £3.5 million, the hotel re-opened as the Roseate Reading in June 2019.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Roseate Reading Grade II listed buildings in Reading Hotels in Reading, Berkshire Government buildings completed in 1911 Tourist attractions in Reading, Berkshire County halls in England