The Queens Hotel in Leeds is one of the last great English railway hotels to be built. In their day these were the Grand Hotels of their time, reflecting the importance of the railways as instruments of a new mobility and social change

Replacing an 1861 building, the importance of the new building was reflected in the appointment of architects William Curtiss Green RA and William Hamlyn FRIBA, who were also the designers of the Dorchester in London’s Park Lane. The Queens had the distinction of being the first hotel in Britian built with en-suite bathrooms to every room. The last of the railway hotels in public ownership, the hotel passed via the old Forte group eventually to its present owners and operator, ‘Q’ Hotels.

Built in brick and Portland stone on a steel frame, on opening the cost of a room was 10 shillings and sixpence for single occupancy - in today’s money about 52p or $1. The rooms were also supplied with what is described as “filtered air”, an equivalent to the current air conditioning perhaps. The hotels importance was reflected in the multi page spread devoted to the hotels opening on November 12th 1937 by the local paper. The costs were reputed to be £500,000 (then about $2 million). The recently completed refurbishment cost a reputed £10 million (approximately $20 million.

Even in the 1930's, traffic noise was a consideration and the original reports in the Yorkshire Post newspaper remarked on how quiet the bedrooms were due to their effective double glazing. Traffic noise is probably less today, thanks in part to Leeds very effective inner ring – if only London had had the same ruthless road planning Leeds has had, that both has cut down the traffic and freed the city centre up for pedestrians whilst making traffic movement easy by comparison with our ill served capital city.

The hotel is on what was once the main square of the city although its centre of gravity has moved now to focus on the area around trhe City Gallery and Henry Moore Foundation. Nevertheless, standing above the main rail terminus and adjacent to a major bus interchange and with its own secure parking, the hotel is still a very good location. Leeds is in any case a very interesting city to walk around in this central zone, with clear references to its history present everywhere. Parts of the interiors of the Queens have been protected by the planning authorities and have been preserved in the interior refurbishment, masterminded by architects SBC-Ransley. Strong colour in the carpeting and strong lighting give drama to the interiors and enhance the original effects, such as the plasterwork and the drama of the uplit barrel vaulting.

Facing the entrance are the original lift doors with their bright red finish and brass trim. The red and black of their decoration is picked up as the theme throughout the public areas and strengthened through the design and colour of the carpet, making the entrance into the hotel quite dramatic. The lighting throws dramatic shadows onto the ceiling whilst providing quite a bright interior. Signage presumably is partially original as the red lettering set into the plasterwork indicatings areas such as the Barber shop which looks too subtle to be contemporary.