MEM22387 - Tors Hotel, or Torrs Park Hotel, Lynmouth (Building)

Around the early 19th Century, a transition occurred when a scattering of villas, some with delicate Regency features, started to appear. The architectural refinements of that time, although relatively few survive, suggest that its association with several well-known poets writers and artists, first provided Lynmouth a certain status. This would have provided the necessary impetus to more extensive development, including several hotels that took place a little later mainly at Lynton, but included the first stage of the Tors Hotel, typified by the conical tower decorative barge-boarded gables and tall casement windows. On the opposite slope to the east, the Tors Hotel opened in 1886 in a baronial style, with plain render elevations, slate roofs and decorative barge-boards, and including a circular corner turret with conical roof. Early 20th century additions were in the then characteristic style of half-timbered gables and plain tile roof. [1] The building is shown as the 'Torrs Park Hotel' on the 1st Edition Ordnance Survey map. [2] The 2nd Edition map shows the building's name as 'Tors Hotel'. [3] In 1885 William Bevan leased the Tors estate from the lady of the manor. By the next year he had built the Tors Hotel in a prominent position and was advertising 50 building sites on what he called Tors Park under the 99 year lease. This was met with mixed response by both visitors and locals. [4] The building was subject to survey prior to redevelopment (including partial demolition) in 2019. The hotel was contructed in the late 19th Century due to an increase in the tourist trade and improved transport links. C.150 people sheltered in the hotel during the August 1952 flood, when many bridges, roads and buildings in Lynmouth were destroyed. In the early 21st Century the hotel was owned and run by Martin Miller, of "Miller's Antique Price Guide" (d.2013). The property has been extended on several occasions and has been altered internally many more times; at one time, the building had 48 bedrooms, but when the hotel closed in October 2014 it had 36. [5]