High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The Star and Garter Hotel in Richmond was a hotel located in the London countryside (later suburbs) on Richmond Hill overlooking the Thames Valley, on the site now occupied by the Royal Star and Garter Home. The first establishment on the site, an inn built in 1738, was relatively small. This was followed by several other buildings of increasing size and varied design as the site changed from family ownership to being run by a limited company. Some of the rebuilding or extension work took place following fires that by 1888 had destroyed most of the original buildings. At various times architects were commissioned to build grand new buildings or extensions to take advantage of the famed view over the river and valley below, with the largest being the 1860s chateau block by E. M. Barry.