Imperial Hotel, Cork City

History

The Imperial Hotel in Cork City is one of Cork’s most exclusive properties. Historic architecture merges with contemporary design to create a magical environment.

The Imperial Hotel, has been serving Cork city since 1813, when the Cork Committee of Merchants commissioned architect Sir Thomas Deane to design and build The Commercial Rooms.

In 1816 the merchants requested Deane to extend the original building along Pembroke Street to serve as a hotel and coach-yard. The Imperial Hotel, originally the place where merchants met to discuss business, remains the most popular business and social centre in the city today.

This Cork City Hotel has played host to a number of renowned figures including Fr Mathew the temperance priest, writers such as Sir Walter Scott, William Makepeace Thackeray, Charles Dickens and the composer Liszt.

Michael Collins, who negotiated the Free State Treaty in 1921 and is an important figure in Irish history, spent his last night in room 115 at the Imperial Hotel.