Palace Hotel and Hydropathic Establishment, Birkdale, Southport.

For the Palace Hotel of 1866 see Cuffley Horton and Bridgford

SOUTHPORT - A new wing to the Palace Hydropathic and Spa Hotel was opened on Friday. It communicates with the main edifice by means of a wide corridor, from which access is gained to the new dining‑room, which measures 40 feet by 30 feet., and is lighted by windows coming down to the floor‑line. Beyond this is the recreation‑room, which is 80 feet long, 40 feet wide, and 25 feet high. It is seated for between 300 and 400 persons, has a stage, also available for platform or orchestra, at one end, and a coved ceiling; pilasters of composite design divide the walls into panels. This room will be used for concerts, amateur theatricals, and other amusements. At the end of the corridor a door gives access to a second corridor, lighted from above by means of coloured glass. Leading off from this passage are ten gentlemen's baths, all of marble. To each bath two dressing‑rooms are attached. At the end of the corridor is the Turkish bath, a room terminating at one end with an apse, into which stained‑glass lights are introduced. Attached to this bath are dressing‑rooms and a cosy smoking‑room. The ladies' baths, which are similar in style to the gentlemen's are reached from a corridor on the opposite side of the wing. Powerful pumping engines, tanks, filtering‑beds, and 1,700 yards of pipes have been laid down for the supply and distribution of the sea‑water, which is obtained from the channel at a point facing the hotel. Messrs Mangnall and Littlewoods, of Manchester, were the architects, and Messrs Bridge and Son, of Burscough, the contractors. The hotel and new wing were illustrated in the Building News for Aug. 27, 1880, by a general plan and bird's‑eye view. [Building News 16 September 1881 page 373]

Reference    Manchester Courier 30 April 1880 page 6
Reference    British Architect 3 September 1880 Page 112
Reference    British Architect 8 October 1880 Page 166 with illustration and extensive note
Reference    Building News 20 August 1880 p240 and illustration
Reference    Building News 27 August 1880 -CHECK
Reference    Building News 16 September 1881 page 373
Reference    Manchester Guardian 19 May 1888 page 12 – sale