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The Royal Windsor Forum |
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 thamesweb |
Farewell to the Frogmore Hotel |
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Posts: 963 (10-Apr-2008 01:34 PM) |
The former Frogmore Hotel in the early stages of demolition 
The north side of Frogmore Hotel. Note the now revealed exterior wall under the sloping roof 
Close-up of the now revealed exterior wall showing the original decorative brickwork Following demolition the site will see the construction of a new 60 bed hotel. |
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 the jiffle king |
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Posts: 71 (11-Apr-2008 06:43 AM) |
Another old building goes to dust.......
I've not seen the planning application to demolish this, so I guess it's an old one.... such a shame, will the planners ever learn? |
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Pat Larkin |
The Frogmore Hotel | ||
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Posts: 27 (11-Apr-2008 02:00 PM) |
Wow, what a shock.......... Last went there for my Mother's 'wake', never dreaming it was ear-marked for demolition. Is Windsor Castle safe????
it could be next!!
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thamesweb |
A few days later... | ||
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Posts: 984 (15-Apr-2008 07:23 PM) |
...from a little further down Alma Road to give an idea of its surroundings. The big building to the right is the Police Station where calls to the police are now handled for this area. |
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Pat Larkin |
The 'Late' Frogmore Hotel | ||
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Posts: 34 (16-Apr-2008 10:35 AM) |
Have you any idea as to what will replace this building? Have the Council issued any details at all? Might be flats, or, perhaps an extension to the present
police station, perhaps.
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the jiffle king |
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Posts: 75 (17-Apr-2008 11:05 AM) |
Its a 60 bedroom hotel
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Pat Larkin |
The 'late' Frogmore Hotel | ||
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Posts: 39 (17-Apr-2008 02:40 PM) |
Where will the people using the proposed hotel park their cars?? Maybe there's going to be an underground parking facility?
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thamesweb |
Good question that... | ||
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Posts: 998 (18-Apr-2008 09:05 AM) |
I was taking a look at the planning application (refused) and the subsequent appeal (allowed) for the new hotel. Elsewhere I have posted the following
Another problem is the government's attitude towards parking. The following incredible statement was discovered in the planning papers for the Frogmore Hotel in Alma Road. (Ref: 03/83422) So to summarise: The planning application appeal was allowed, back in August 2004, after considerations of the size of the building were taken into account. The new hotel will only be 1m higher than the old Frogmore Hotel - keep an eye on that - and less high than the (gross) police station nearby and office block to the west. The new hotel will be U shaped, with one wing parallel to Alma Road, and includes a central atrium. Car parking will be in the basement. The hotel will be four floors with the top floor accommodated within the roof space. The inspector considers that the size and scale of the hotel would be complimentary to the Victorian buildings across the road. To the south of the development is a 'generous two storey house with garage'. In my view that is likely to be redeveloped too in due course but the planning inspector believes that the garage serves a useful purpose in separating the new development from the existing house and so avoids a cramped look. In the event that the house is also the subject of a redevelopment application, this feature must be retained. The inspector is of the view that the stained glass window in the front of the hotel need not be retained within the new building and its fate can be decided by the owner of the hotel. That's that then! No further openings are to be allowed above ground level so as to protect the privacy of neighbours and acoustic insulation is to be incorporated to protect customers from aircraft noise and neighbours from noise from within the hotel... don't like the sound of that, literally!
Last Edited By: thamesweb
18-Apr-2008 09:16 AM.
Edited 1 times.
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Pat Larkin |
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Posts: 47 (18-Apr-2008 10:18 AM) |
mmm, it's all done and dusted by the sounds of it. With regards to the stained glass window, couldn't the Windsor Council demand that this be preserved
or, couldn't they buy it from the developer, because, as it stands, it sounds as if it'll just be thrown away or broken if something isn't done. It
could be donated to a future building or incorporated in the Council building, perhaps? Where workers, diners etc. will park, well, as per usual, it's
'their' problem. Perhaps Planners and contractors don't go out at night, so they wouldn't appreciate the problems of finding somewhere to park
that isn't a mile away from where you're dining, dancing, visiting. I do agree with your comment about the Police Station building, it is pretty grim.
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Pat Larkin |
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Posts: 49 (18-Apr-2008 10:32 AM) |
Another thought - will the new hotel be called 'The Frogmore Hotel II'? Does the company building it have to put forward several names, or are they
given a selection of names to choose from, and who finally decides or gives permission for that name??
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thamesweb |
Stained Glass | ||
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Posts: 1000 (18-Apr-2008 12:22 PM) |
The opportunity to save the window is long past, I am afraid, by about four years. The planning committee, or the inspector anyway, decided that it was not of
any great value being a religious subject hence the decision to leave it up to the owner. Only the best of these things are required to be kept and, apart from
letting a salvage co. have it, and removing it at their expense, the window will not survive.
As to the name, the owner can call it what he likes, pretty much!! |
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the jiffle king |
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Posts: 76 (18-Apr-2008 04:04 PM) |
Oh yes, across the road, this application has gone in
Application number 08/00685 http://www.rbwm.gov.uk/pam/search.jsp 08/00685 - New application Then click "View associated documents" What I have written: Objection!!!!! I object to this development going ahead as proposed as there are not enough off-street parking spaces to support the number of vehicles that will be introduced to a very busy end of Alma Road by 14 flats. (16 flats really as 2 are existing flats) Assuming each flat has 1 car, then 10 cars would require street parking on a stretch of Alma road that is already under great parking pressure from: 1) Over-development of the land - This used to be 2 houses, they now want to put another 14 on the site to make 16 in total. 16 is too many for this parcel of land 2) The proposed extension will not be in keeping with the local area 3) 10 parking spaces is not enough. The local plan states 1 per 1 bedroom flat and 1.5 per 2 bedroom flat. This should be a minimum and ideally 2 spaces per flat would help. This will result in permit parking which Alma Road cannot afford more of. There is a new 60 bedroom hotel opposite the proposed development which will increase pressure on the local roads where there are just over 1 space per 2 bedrooms There is going to be a restaurant and no staff parking, so the pressure on this end of Alma road will increase massively!. There are the newly built retirement flats which require permits, parking is required for the police station/doctors surgery and parishoners who attend the many churches on Alma Road. Added to this, developments on Alma Road such as Camperdown house do not have enough parking. To put more pressure on this is not a suitable situation and any new developments should not be allowed to have permit parking of any type as the area is under great pressure now 4) On-street parking on Alma Road is difficult enough, especially with the council now ticketing yellow lines. This has led to more cars parked in the bays which in turn makes it difficult for current residents to park safely 5) The original garden for number 66 has been sold at some point to a developer for parking for other flats. Surely the developer for 66-68 Alma Road should provide adequate parking or buy some land to build more parking (Or reduce the number of flats) 6) The development still overlooks number 62 Queens Road which is not acceptable 7) Alma Road has just had many flats built on the site of the old magistrates court, it is predominantly a road with large houses and making into flats will once again remove the character of the road. The new hotel in place of the Frogmore hotel has just been knocked down to make way for a new building. The character of the street is being eroded. Sensible plans for 6-8 flats in the current buildings with parking spaces for all would be a suitable solution  There is little outside space for any new owners of the flats to enjoy, and there will be no amenity space created.
9) Thinking that Bike sheds are going to remove the requirement for cars is ridiculous. There have been many bike thefts in Windsor recently and people will not leave bikes outside and from this location will not use them instead of a car 10) Bin store still at the front of the property which was one reason this was rejected last time under 07/02353/FULL 11) Conveniently a tree has been found to be diseased and removed where an important part of the development will take place. This site is listed as vacant, but rubbish appears every week and there is some on the front of number 66 even now. If the plans were reasonable, then I would support this application, but at this time they are not. 16 flats is too many for this area and the parking issues it will create |
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Pat Larkin |
The Frogmore Hotel site..... | ||
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Posts: 73 (23-Apr-2008 01:28 PM) |
Does anyone know, or has anyone any pix of what's happening now at the Frogmore site please? I suppose by now the site's cleared and ready for the new
building.
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thamesweb |
Good News!!! | ||
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Posts: 1017 (23-Apr-2008 03:21 PM) |
Today's news is that the owners of the site have decided to retain the stained glass window for use in the new building. I have to say I assumed that this would not actually be the case, but all credit to the owners. Passing by today I have taken another picture, above. The digger to the side had been carefully nibbling away at the brickwork around the window arch with two colleagues standing on the pavement keeping a look out as the front wall was removed from around the stained glass window frame. |
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Pat Larkin |
Great news, thankyou for that. | ||
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Posts: 75 (23-Apr-2008 06:06 PM) |
I am truly amazed at your fantastic news and photo - great news, and thankyou for taking the trouble to go to the demolition site and for taking a photo too.
I'm sitting here, smiling, although you can't see it, you'll have to take my word on it....I wonder what made the owners of the site do a
'U-turn'???? that's the second one this evening, the first being The Prime Minister's...!!! Smashing news and I hope they keep to their
decision to use this beautiful window, being a little part of Windsor's history, in the new building. As you say ' Good News '..
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thamesweb |
Stained Glass Removed | ||
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Posts: 1018 (23-Apr-2008 09:59 PM) |
To be fair, the site owner didn't do a 'U' turn. The situation with the planning permission was that the planning committee didn't require the
window to be retained, leaving it to the owner to decide. That made me assume that it would be scrapped. Seems I was wrong!!!
The Stained Glass window - video Anyway, tonight I see that the window and its frame has actually been removed after I made this short film. |
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Pat Larkin |
The stained glass window's rescue.... | ||
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Posts: 77 (24-Apr-2008 12:13 PM) |
It was good to see the video, thamesweb. Thankyou. I hadn't realised how beautiful the stained glass window is.....the brickwork behind the modern bricks
looks quite old, or were these just a kind of 'ballast' or support?.... Have you any idea when this building was erected, and what it's original
function was, because the religious stained glass window maybe represented an order of nuns or monks? Someone must have designed, ordered and paid for
it.....maybe it was a chapel on a big estate...I think the answers could be in the Windsor archives. How could I find them, should I ask 'Google'?
Thanks for any help on this.
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thamesweb |
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Posts: 1020 (24-Apr-2008 10:22 PM) |
(From memory!!) The building was originally the rectory for Trinity Church and was built around the time the church was built in the mid 1840s. Hence the
religious subject matter. St Marks School at one time used the building at the back until the school was enlarged eventually becoming ISC around the 1900s. The
original rector of Trinity Church in 1844 was Stephen Hawtrey. He was instrumental in creating St Marks School. See my article Imperial Service College. Trinity Church Parish Rooms are next door but one. I
don't know when the Rectory was sold by the church but it was still a rectory in 1933 (Rector Rev Henry Tower) and in 1950 (Rev Eric Dawson-Walker). By
1956 the Rectory had become the Frogmore Hotel but with Rev Eric Dawson Walker still rector and listed in Kelly as being at the Parish Rooms. At some point the
more modern house was built between the Parish Rooms and the hotel. Anyone have a date? The Frogmore Hotel was enlarged in the late 50s with some rather
unsympathetic changes to the roof line so as to make more rooms.
The brickwork around the stained glass window is all original, the wall being brick built with standard (cheap!) bricks then better facing bricks used on the external elevations, and red ones for the arch around the window. An equivalent today would be using Thermalite blocks for the inside walls, then facing with proper bricks. |
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Pat Larkin |
Imperial Service College and others | ||
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Posts: 78 (25-Apr-2008 09:45 AM) |
My Mother had several jobs when I was young....She cooked at The William IV pub, she worked at Windsor Castle, (with two Aunts of mine as well!), then got
herself a job at The Imperial Service College, which was down a gravel road and opposite Clewer Green School. Yet another job was 'on the boats', as
she called it - she prepared food at the 'back end' of 'The River Queen', a small pleasure boat moored on the right-hand-side of Windsor Bridge
if you're coming from Windsor, (right near The Donkey House Pub). Going back to the ISC, I remember walking across the road from Clewer Green School, down
a gravel road and into a 'big building', I'd go through the front door then climb the stairs to the dormitories where my Mother made beds, emptied
'potties', which were under each bed - and 'bumpered' the wooden floors. I met several teachers/masters, and was given by one of them my first
tennis racquet, (a Slazenger Blue Bird?) it had a square, wooden-framed press, with wing-nut screws at each corner.....I was also given a smashing pair of
roller skates. They were American, so, naturally, everyone living near me then, knew that I had these 'really good skates' (because I told
them!!).......I never saw any of the boys, but remember thinking how awful it must have been for them, at that age, to be away from their 'Mums'.
.....I've read your piece about Haylebury, and found it very informative and interesting too. I learned something, which I can't believe I didn't
even think of - stupid, or what, - that Kipling Building was named after Rudyard Kipling...It honestly hadn't registered with me before reading that
piece.....as a matter of interest and yet another coincidence, his son joined The Irish Guards, which, as I've mentioned before, is my Husband's old
regiment. I have to say that joining the Royal Windsor Forum and reading all the contributions over the years, I've learned so much about my old home
town.....I suppose it's unrealistic to think you know everything about where you were born, well, I have to admit, I've read stories on this website
that go back many years and can relate to some of them too. My husband would like to put in his 'two pennorth' by giving his memories of the 1947
floods, but that's for another day.....!!!!
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Pat Larkin |
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Posts: 81 (25-Apr-2008 02:45 PM) |
I think my last contribution, 'Imperial Service College and others' , I've put on the wrong link...apologies, perhaps 'thamesweb' can move
it to where it should be...thankyou.
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thamesweb |
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Posts: 1022 (25-Apr-2008 09:43 PM) |
Your mother would have worked at Haileybury School which was the 'junior' school to ISC itself. My late brother went there in the late 40s to 1953.
The building is still there but it has been turned into flats with many more constructed nearby. |
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