Walk through the entrance of our magnificent brick and stucco Italianate hotel and you’re following some extraordinary guests. Since opening in 1860 to serve first-class rail passengers, we’ve entertained the likes of Charles Dickens, Cecil Rhodes and Lillie Langtry. We’re a hotel of many firsts. We’re the original railway hotel, the first of our kind built to service the many rail travellers to the city. With no other blueprints upon which to base the hotels’ design, our architecture was unique, many say the first skyscraper of its time and students from across the world still visit just to marvel at our structure and design.