History

January 1928, Sligo

Railway Hotel

Work Nearing Completion

The work of erecting the new hotel in Sligo for the Great Southern Railway Co. was commenced in April 1927, and the first brick in the building was laid on the 25th of that month. To - day the building is rapidly nearing completion andwill be ready for opening early in the summer of this year probably in June.

Situate on the Company's grounds beside The Railway Station, the building is now sufficient formed to show that it will be not only an imposing structure but a bright acquisition to Sligo, both from the commercial and artistic structural standpoint. Its handsomely designed on modern hotel lines and its appearance when completed, will be credit to the designers, the contractors, and The Railway Company. It is over - all length is 126ft. 3 ins. by 44ft. 3 ins. In breadth and rises three storeys from the basement. Briefly stated, the general lay - out is as follows:

Basement - Staff accommodation, stock rooms, kitchen scullery, stores and heating chambers.

Ground Floor- Coffee Room, the sitting rooms, lounge, writing room, smoking room, commercial room & office.

Upper Storeys-Bedrooms of which there will be 40. These will be served by three staircases. The Entire building will be centrally heated and electrically lighted throughout. Both rooms and lavatories are provided for on each floor, and hot and cold water will be laid to the bedrooms.

There will be two entrances - the main one on south elevation and the subsidiarity one the east.

Messrs J. & P. Good, Dublin, are the contractors and the heating arrangements are being installed by Messrs McGuire and Gatchell, Dublin. The electric lighting plant and bells are being fitted by The Railway Company's engineers and the painting and decorating is being carried out by Messrs John Meldrum & Sons, Sligo.

The building was designed by The Railway Company's architects Messrs John F. Sides and J. C. Dewhurst, and the work is being carried out under the supervisor of Mr. T .R. Noble, the Contractor's foreman.

 "The New Railway Hotel"-written by local poet John Gillen, 8th of June, 1929.

From Sligo Railway Station steps- In the summer sun's bright ray-We see fields and trees of emeralds green And distant knocknarea; While just close beside us, Neath the hawthorn's pleasant smell)

We behold a lofty building- The new Railway Hotel with its many twelve-panel windows, Two varnished massive doors, Its ornamented porches, And splendid well - made floors; There's nothing in all Ireland -

The truth here I must tell - Can equal this great structure, The new Railway Hotel.

Those who live in Knappagh Road Are proud, both one and all, That the big high ditch from the station gate was made a fancy wall, And tourists coming from afar Can't know anything to excel, Fair Sligo's charming scenery Round the new Railway Hotel.