This photo nearly drove me mad. I just couldn't figure out where this beach and fanciful mock-moghul fortress were located. I placed it on a forum where I received the most outlandish advice. Several Russians were absolutely convinced that it was a long-demolished former Tsarist summer palace. Others were dismissively adamant that it was somewhere in British India. Then someone did a proper search of Indo-Saracenic follies in England and found it in Devon. It is now the Redcliffe Hotel and was originally built in 1856 as a home for Colonel Robert Smith, formerly of the Royal Bengal Engineers. Returning to the flea market where I found it I dug out three more photos of Paignton (see below) from the same album, which would have saved me a lot of bother.
The building on the right is now the Park Hotel. They were pleased to add a copy of this to their archive.
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