From sinner

Halls of Residence

Hamilton Hall
Hamilton Hall
Basic Information
Status	Former (until 2006)
Size	? residents
Founded	?
Contact information
Address	The Scores St Andrews
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The building that would become known as Hamilton Hall to generations of students, as a hotel in Broadstairs to anyone who has seen "Chariots of Fire", and as that big red building to anyone who has watched the Open, started life as the Grand Hotel. Built in 1895, on the site of the Union Parlour (the predecessor of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club), to capitalise on the burgeoning tourist trade in St Andrews, the hotel was a major success during the early years of the twentieth century, and even managed to attract some (minor) royal patronage. During the Second World War, the hotel was requisitioned by the armed forces and was never to be reopened for hotel guests. Following the end of the war, the hotel's proposed sale to be used as a Roman Catholic seminary met with outraged opposition from many of the townspeople. Never letting an opportunity go unmissed, the University stepped in and bought the hotel to be utilised as a hall of residence. The building's name was changed to commemorate the many Hamiltons who had played such an important role in the history of St Andrews - although John Hamilton the last Archbishop of St Andrews before the Protestant Reformation was especially remembered - and in 1946 was opened to students. In 2006 the hall was sold to an American company who planned to refurbish and remodel the building as a number of "upmarket" apartments known as the "St Andrews Grand". At the time of writing, this project has not been completed.