The Hotel was built in the 1890s in response to the housing needs arising from the opening of the
Algeciras-Bobadilla railway and opened in 1901. The original colonial English style building was funded by
Alexander Henderson, 1st Baron Faringdon, via his company the
Algeciras Gibraltar Railway Company. The new building kept the overall structure of English colonial style and added elements typical of Andalusian architecture as befitted the eclectic movement of the time. The hotel is built around a central courtyard with landscape gardens. This building plays an important part of the history of Algeciras, especially during the
Conference of Algeciras in 1906 and during World War II when spies would monitor the military movements in Gibraltar. It has also been visited by many famous people over the years, including
Arthur Conan Doyle,
Charles de Gaulle,
Winston Churchill and
Orson Welles. ==References==