The Queens Hotel

The original Queens Hotel was known as Southsea House and was built by the architect Augustus Livesay in 1861. It was then a large private house owned by Sir John and Lady Morris. The house was situated in an almost identical position to the front half of the existing hotel but was at that time surrounded by woodland – Stone Woods – and the Royal Albert Yacht Club. In 1865, it was transformed into one of the first hotels in Southsea by William Kemp Junior and became known as The Queens Hotel. In 1902, plans for a new hotel were submitted by the owner, G. H. King, after a fire sadly swept through the original building the year before. Designed by architect T. W. Cutler in 1903, the new hotel was rebuilt in the Edwardian baroque style in brown terracotta. This splendid, grade II listed building still stands today boasting outstanding views across the Solent and Southsea Common.