Established in 1902, built in English Gothic architecture style mostly in wood, the hotel is spread over 11 acres (45,000 m2) with 50 rooms at present, and overlooks the Himalayas.

After the railway reached Dehradun in 1900, Mussoorie became more popular, and was the chief summer resort for European residents of the British Raj, from the plains of the United Provinces.

Fanny Eden, sister of then Governor-General, Lord Auckland, wrote in her journal of 17 March 1838:"There is a large hotel just built on a hill here, and slate billiard tables in it.

(From Tigers, Durbars and Kings; Fanny Eden's Indian Journals, transcribed and edited by Janet Dunbar, John Murray, London 1988).

As the road up from Dehradun was not ready as of then, a massive amount of Edwardian furniture, grand pianos, billiard-tables, barrels of cider, crates of champagne and other materials were all carried uphill by bullock cart; this also included the oak pieces that were later joined to make its dining hall floor that i The Cecil at Simla and The Carlton at Lucknow.

It soon became popular amongst the British upper echelons of the Raj, such as the civil servants and military officers who wanted to avoid the stiff official environment of Simla, the summer capital.

After World War I, the first car came to the hill station in 1920, and the hotel entered its most popular phase, as it boasted a large imperial dining room and the ballroom which was the talk of the town in its hey day.

[16] At one point it was run by the Italian hoteliers, Messrs Viglietta and Palazzi, who also ran the Carlton at Lucknow, and later leased the Majestic Hotel in Bombay.

Miss Mounstephen was later arrested for allegedly tampering with her friend's bottle of sodium bicarbonate by adding prussic acid to it, though the court found her not guilty.