The Francis Hotel

The Francis Hotel Bath dominates the south side of classical Queen Square, which was built between 1728 and 1735 by architect John Wood the Elder.
When John Wood developed his grand vision for Queen Square, the south side was made up of nine private townhouses, united by a single façade. Seven of these survive - seamlessly interconnected to form the newly restored Francis Hotel.
Parish rate books survive from 1734 which show that when Wood was a resident, he occupied number 9.
Little changed until the 1870s when Mrs Emily Francis, widow of Solomon Francis, a local builder, bought numbers 8, 9, 10 and 11 and established a boarding house. By 1884, she had transformed the entire terrace into the Francis Private Hotel.She had previously owned a large hotel beside the Assembly Rooms.
When she relinquished these premises the glass portico that stood at the entrance there was removed and now stands over the entrance to the hotel.
Today, number 9 forms the main entrance of the hotel , sheltered by the distinctive glazed canopy with decorative cast-iron work.
Coming out of her lodging across the square at number 13 in 1875 you might have spotted Jane Austen with her mother and brother where she stayed for a short period while Edward had treatment at the Hetling Baths for his rheumatism
In April 1942, a direct hit from a 500kg German bomb almost obliterated the hotel, forcing demolition of the east end, comprising numbers 7 and 8 and part of 9. The Francis Hotel was later sympathetically restored and resumed as a hotel after the war.
[The Bath Chronicle]