Holbeck Hall Hotel, hotel in Scarborough, Yorkshire, England; destroyed by 1993 landslide
Holbeck Hall Hotel was a three-storey Victorian building perched on a steep cliff on the southern edge of Scarborough, overlooking the North Sea. The structure sat within lawns and wooded grounds and had operated as a hotel since 1932, after starting life as a private residence.
The property was built in the late 19th century as a private home named Wheatcroft Cliff, then converted into a hotel in 1932. In June 1993, a coastal landslide caused the cliff beneath the building to collapse, bringing the entire structure down.
For decades, the hotel was the place people in Scarborough chose for special occasions, anniversaries, or a stay with a sea view that felt genuinely elevated above the town. Today the site itself draws visitors who remember the 1993 collapse from television coverage.
Nothing remains of the building itself, as the ruins were cleared after the 1993 landslide, and there is no hotel to visit. The cliff in that area is still geologically active, so it is important to respect any barriers and stay well back from the edge.
The hotel's chimney fell on camera during a live television news report on June 5, 1993, turning an already dramatic event into one of the most replayed news images of that year. Souvenir t-shirts printed with the collapsing building were sold locally in the weeks that followed.
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