The Midland Hotel | |
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The Midland | |
View from the southwest
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General information | |
Status | Grade II* |
Type | Hotel |
Architectural style | Eclectic Edwardian Baroque |
Location | Manchester |
Country | England |
Coordinates | 53°28′38″N 2°14′42″W / 53.477222°N 2.245°WCoordinates: 53°28′38″N 2°14′42″W / 53.477222°N 2.245°W |
Opened | 5 September 1903 |
Cost | £1 million in 1900 (£101 million in 2011) |
Client | Midland Railway Company |
Technical details | |
Structural system | Steel frame, red brick, brown terracotta, polished granite and Burmantoft terracotta |
Design and construction | |
Architect | Charles Trubshaw |
The Midland is a grand hotel in Manchester, England. Opened in September 1903, it was built by the Midland Railway to serve Manchester Central railway station, its northern terminus for its rail services to London St. Pancras. It faces onto St Peter's Square. The hotel was designed by Charles Trubshaw in a highly individualistic Edwardian Baroque style. It is a Grade II* listed building.
Built at the junction of Peter Street and Lower Mosley Street opposite Manchester Central railway station, terminus for Midland Railway express trains to London St Pancras, the hotel was designed by Charles Trubshaw and constructed between 1898 and 1903 for the Midland Railway Company at a cost of more than £1 million. In 1908 The Railway News reported that the hotel had over 70,000 guests in its first year and described it as a "Twentieth century palace". The hotel had a 1,000-seat purpose-built theatre where opera, drama and early Annie Horniman performances were staged, and a roof terrace where a string quartet performed.
The Midland Hotel was allegedly coveted by Adolf Hitler, who maintained a keen interest in architecture, as a possible Nazi headquarters in Britain. American intelligence speculated that the area of Manchester around the Town Hall was spared from bombing so as not to damage or destroy the Midland Hotel.
The Midland was where Charles Rolls met Henry Royce leading to the formation of Rolls-Royce Limited in 1904.Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother dined in the hotel's Trafford Restaurant in November 1959 after attending a Royal Variety Performance at the Palace Theatre. The Beatles were famously refused access to the French Restaurant for being "inappropriately dressed".