Sawmill Street was renamed Camwal Road after the Chemists’ Aerated and Mineral Waters Association Ltd. had premises here from 1884. The company’s “Aquaperia” water, first produced here during W.W.1 to replace banned goods from enemy nations, became world famous.

A spring of remarkably cold and pure water, Cold Bath was used in the 18th century for bathing and the relief of sore eyes. Sometimes known as St Magnus or St Mungo’s Well, it was made a “common watering place” by the Great Award of 1778. The 1837 bathing house was demolished in 1974.

This terrace was built for the Duchy of Lancaster as private housing by George Dawson from 1881-1886. In the mid-1980s, nos 3-13 were converted into a hotel by the Grant family. It has been the home of the Harrogate Civic Society since 1991.

This hotel grew out of the Chequers Inn built near the C18 toll bar on the Leeds and Ripon turnpike roads. Renamed the “George” after George III’s gift of the Stray in1778, the hotel was enlarged on several occasions during the C18. A fire on 5th May 1927 damaged much of the roof, but the internal stained glass survived. Renamed the “St. George” shortly before the First World War, in the Second the hotel was requisitioned by the Post Office and Air Ministry. It re-opened in 1952, and acquired a Spa facility in 1985.

Built in c1815, this important coaching inn was originally called Hattersley’s. It was renamed the Brunswick in 1833, the same name being given in1848 to Harrogate’s first railway station diagonally opposite. In 1866, the name was changed to The Prince of Wales. The hotel was converted into apartments in 1960.

Built in 1847 by Thomas Salt as the “South Park Boarding House” this building became the Royal Hotel which flourished after the 1848 opening of the Brunswick Railway Station, south-west across the Stray. Enlarged in 1863 and 1880, the Royal was requisitioned in World War Two. After closing in 1960, the building was converted for office and residential use, and was refurbished 2000-2005.

First recorded in1626, the Starbeck mineral wells fell into decay in the 18thc. but were restored after 1822. In 1828, bathing facilities were provided in a small gothic building, and in 1852, a larger, two-storeyed structure in Victorian “Tudor” was provided. The “Prince of Wales” baths was built in 1870, both for swimming and Spa treatments, and between 1900-4, pipes were built to convey the Starbeck mineral waters to the Royal Baths.

Established at the “Smiths Arms” by 1777, the inn was acquired by Jonathan Shutt in 1782 and renamed the “White Swan”. After 1848 the Swan, by then an hotel, was owned and enlarged by Isaac Thomas Shutt, architect of the Royal Pump Room. In 1878 Dr. Richard Veale converted it into Harrogate’s first hydropathic establishment, complete with Turkish Baths, the hotel then becoming known as the “Harrogate Hydro”. Famous guests included Karl Marx in 1873 and missing novelist Agatha Christie, who was found here in 1926 after the biggest “man” hunt in British history. Requisitioned in the Second World War for use by the Air Ministry, the hotel re-opened in 1952 as the “Old Swan”, and was used as a venue for the 1977 film “Agatha”, starring Dustin Hoffman and Vanessa Redgrave.

Largely inspired by the design of the Crystal Palace, the Wintergarden was built in 1897 for the Royal Baths development. It was largely demolished in 1938 but the original entrance and staircase were preserved. In December 1900, Winston Churchill spoke here of his experience as a prisoner during the Boer War.

James Robert Ogden founded the firm which bears his name in 1893 and acquired this building in 1920. An expert in precious metals, he accompanied Howard Carter’s 1922 expedition to Egypt which discovered Tutankhamen’s tomb and helped with the study of the gold artefacts found there. As advisor to the British Museum, he helped to restore gold objects in many European and American museums. In 1934 Ogden’s remodelled some of Queens Alexandra’s jewellery for Princess Marina of Kent and in 1937 handled the sale of a tiara, once belonging to the Empress Josephine. They also made a cigar case for Winston Churchill and two silver tureens for Eleanor Roosevelt. In 1940 James Robert Ogden 2nd took over the firm, which still remains a family business.

In honour of SAMSON FOX Genius, philanthropist, entrepreneur and Mayor of Harrogate 1889 - 1892

Built shortly after 1860, Cathcart House was soon established by the Allen family as one of Harrogate’s leading boarding houses. Princess Alix of Hesse, who became Czarina in 1894, stayed here, and until her murder in 1917 by the Bolsheviks, acted as Godmother to the owners’ twin children. In 1911, a tea-party here was attended by Empress Marie of Russia; Queen Alexandra, former Empress of India; King Manuel of Spain; Prince Christopher of Greece; Princess Victoria and the Grand Duchess George of Russia. A.A. Thomson’s novel of life in pre-1914 Harrogate, “The Exquisite Burden” features Cathcart House, where it is disguised as “Mexborough Hall”.

A club for Gentlemen was founded in1857 on Devonshire Place. The present building was opened in 1886 to a design by Harrogate architects A and H.E. Brown. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was a visitor.

On 2nd August 1890, to the south-east of this plaque, the Mayor of Harrogate, Samson Fox, an inventor of genius, made Parliament Street the world’s first route to be lit by his water-gas development. Visitors came from across the U.K. to see how “the Mayor of Harrogate has bottled the sun “. The plant was demolished before the Royal Baths opened in 1897, and following closure in 1969, parts were later acquired for a J.D. Wetherspoon premises. Unveiled by Edward Fox, OBE, Samson Fox’s great-grandson.

Artist 1819-1909 In this building, formerly known as Dragon Lodgings, Frith (born at Aldfield nr. Ripon) lived with his parents from 1826 to 1835. During this time his father was the landlord of the (now demolished) Dragon Hotel and one of the first Church Wardens at Christ Church on the Stray. Frith left Harrogate for London on the 4th March 1835 ‘to make my fortune’.

Harrogate Council’s 1898 competition for the design of a Kursaal or “Cure Hall” was won by London architect Robert Beale, who worked with Frank Matcham, England’s most celebrated theatrical designer. The Kursaal was opened by Sir Hubert Parry on 28th May 1903 and is the only remaining building of its type in the country. Intended to complement the town’s other spa facilities, the Kursaal contained many innovations that provided great flexibility of use. Re-named the “Royal Hall” in 1918, the building has been host to the greatest artists of the day - from Sir Edward Elgar to the Beatles. Following a complete restoration from 2006-08, Matcham’s spectacular interior now contains more gold leaf than any similar auditorium in England. The much-loved building as re-opened by HRH The Prince of Wales, Patron of the Royal Hall Restoration Trust on 22nd January 2008.

The first Harrogate Police Station was built on this site in 1866, and after Harrogate became a Borough in 1884, a court was introduced, first meeting on 29th November 1885. The County Court came to Harrogate on 9th December 1912, moving to Victoria Avenue in 1991. For 23 years, the Chief Clerk was William Ernest Woods (1905-1970), who gave outstanding service, notable for fairness, understanding and justice. After 2004, this building was occupied by a solicitor’s practice.

Opened on 28th September 1936 as a single screened cinema seating a audience of 1,647, the Odeon was designed by cinema-chain architect Harry Weedon, in the fashionable Art Deco style, costing nearly £32,000 to build. It was the first building on the site intended originally for an abortive Harrogate Opera House. Internal conversions in 1972, 1989 and 2001 provided multi-screens, and in 1996 the cinema featured on the 19p postage stamp.

In 1796, this building was converted into a Methodist chapel, later becoming a clubhouse. From 1890 - 1912 it was the home and studio of Bernard Evans, RA, the celebrated water colourist.

Richard Ellis, born a blacksmith’s son in 1821, died at Southfield House in 1895 when he was known as the “Bismarck of Harrogate” having led the Improvement Commissioners and then the council, which he helped create in 1884, serving as Mayor from 1884-7. A kind and mild man he always promoted the town’s progress having been the principal stimulus behind the growth of the fire brigade, the infirmary, the central railway station, the New Victoria Baths, Ashville College and the Royal Baths. Ellis himself made the wooden display cabinet for the town’s mineral waters shown at the Crystal Palace Exhibition in 1851 and in 1860 he founded the Victoria Park Company to join High and Low Harrogate. In 1865 he built the Victoria Park Methodist Church which he gave to the town and when High Harrogate complained it had no link to the new railways station Ellis built East Parade which he made over to public use. In 1884 Ellis presented the councillors with their robes of office and in 1887 donated the land and cost for Queen Victoria’s statue and monument. A builder by profession, Ellis put up some of the best buildings in Harrogate, many being on York Place, James Street and Queen Parade, including this house where he lived for many years.