Mottram Hall Hotel

Mottram Hall Hotel

A large house built circa 1750 by William Wright for his son, with interior alterations dating from circa 1780 and restoration undertaken in 1939. The building was adapted for hotel use with additions and modifications around 1975.

The exterior is constructed of Flemish bond orange brick with buff sandstone dressings, topped by a hipped Kerridge stone-slate roof with nine brick chimneys. The long facade features projecting end pavilions and a symmetrical 17-bay front in a 3:3:5:3:3 arrangement, with the central five bays forming the original house.

The principal elevation is distinguished by a rusticated plinth supporting giant order Doric pilasters with a triglyph frieze containing rosettes. A triangular pediment above bears a blank Rococo cartouche inscribed with the Latin legend "NISI DOMINUS EDIFICE DOMUM FRUSTRA LABORATUR", adapted from Psalm 117. The central doorcase features recessed panels on the jambs and a segmental pediment on consoles with floral swags in the tympanum; it now contains a glazed door. Above sits a 12-pane sash window in an eared architrave. The remaining windows have flat gauged and rubbed heads with stone keyblocks and sills. The flanking three bays on ashlar plinth are decorated with Gibbsian surrounds to the door and window in the central bay, which steps forward slightly beneath a triangular pediment. The end pavilions display similar central bays stepping forward five bays, though their surrounds feature chamfered rustication. The rear pediment of the central block carries the inscription "RURA MIIH PLACEANT". Large twentieth-century extensions have been added to the end pavilions.

The interior contains noteworthy Adam-style decoration. The former entrance hall features an excellent ceiling with delicate cornice, a border of rosettes, and a central circular panel bordered by running vine with a fluted roundel at its centre. Carved softwood dado rail, skirting and door architrave display dot diamond motifs and lines of husks. Fine mahogany six-panelled doors are present throughout. A room to the left retains similar softwood carving based on fluting, though its ceiling has been lost. A white marble fireplace features an urn centerpiece with swags of husks. The central passage displays a long plaster groin vault with fan lunettes to the sides and other Adam motifs. An oak-well staircase has square iron balusters, mahogany handrail, and a carved open string with raised roundels above a band of fluting. The bressumers carry urns in relief and elliptical medallions. The stairwell is lit by a semi-circular headed window with tracery in the tympanum. The stairwell ceiling is more heavily decorated with swags of husks in the frieze, a ropework border, and a central panel of acanthus leaves. The garden rooms have eared architraves to doors and long windows, with mid-nineteenth-century ceilings copying the style of the stairwell. The modern lobby features an oak-panelled dado of early eighteenth-century style and a fireplace flanked by fluted wooden pillars carrying urns, with an acanthus border to the fire opening and roundels in the frieze above. Fluted wooden pilasters appear in openings to adjoining rooms.

The full history of the house remains uncertain. The simple plan of the central block with direct entry to a room, together with the style of the wings, compares to Milnesbridge Hall near Huddersfield of circa 1749, attributed to either Paine or T. Atkinson. The ceilings in Adam style are of good quality, although those in the garden rooms represent a later pastiche of this manner.