Herman Danielson began building Hotell Jæderen along Johan Feyers gate in 1877, timing its opening to coincide with the arrival of the Jærensbanen railway line connecting Egersund to Stavanger in February 1878, and the hotel hosted the celebratory breakfast marking the new line’s opening that same month. It was one of seven hotels crowded into the small town center by the century’s end, as Egersund’s role as a transfer point between coastal steamships and the new railway drew a steady stream of travelers.
A major fire tore through the district in May 1896, and though flames spared much of the building, water damage forced Danielson to rebuild entirely; he took the opportunity to modernize the property and rename it Grand Hotel. The hotel gradually absorbed neighboring houses into its footprint over the following century, and it now spans ten connected wooden buildings in Egersund’s protected historic center, each preserving a different architectural era from 1880s Swiss chalet style through 1930s functionalism. It remains Rogaland county’s oldest continuously operating hotel.