The Orford Hotel And Attached Range Of Outbuildings And Boundary Wall

The Orford Hotel is a public house and former hotel dating from approximately 1908, designed by Wright & Hamlyn for the Greenall Whitley Brewery Company. It is constructed with buff terracotta facing the main elevations, red brick elsewhere, and has a Westmorland slate roof with diminishing courses, featuring a prominent ridge, gable, and mid-slope stacks. The architectural style is Tudor Gothic.

The building is arranged around a courtyard plan, situated on a corner plot with a long, primary facade facing east along Gorsey Lane, and a range of outbuildings to the east forming a service courtyard.

The front elevation, facing east, is slightly asymmetrical, with projecting gabled bays at each end, each topped with a pinnacle and a ball finial. The northern bay is square, while the other is canted, both with a square, projecting upper floor. A central section of the facade contains two doorways. Gothic tracery detailing is present over the windows on the projecting bays. The upper floor of the projecting bays has transomed windows with slightly arched Tudor heads, while the central windows are similarly headed but without transoms.

The north elevation has a facade canted below the eaves. The central part of the ground floor is recessed to create two three-sided bays set back from the main wall plane. Transomed windows with Gothic tracery are found above both on the ground and first floors. The south elevation features a plain brick wall with a projecting, single-story toilet block. The rear elevation has a mixture of sash and mullioned windows, along with a projecting bay with a gable and finial.

Internally, the ground floor plan has been modified, but much of the original compartmentalisation remains. The main bar, entered from a doorway on the south side, now incorporates the area of a former outdoor department. A north-facing door leads to a hall area, which has a corridor extending to the rear of the building. To the left are two bars, each extending into bay windows on the north side. The main bar counter extends into the hall area, and original fixed seating is present in the bar areas. Windows feature etched glass displaying the brewery monogram. A tiled frieze with Art Nouveau detailing is found in the corridor.

Attached to the hotel are outbuildings and a boundary wall, forming two courtyards. The southern courtyard contains low storage buildings, while the northern courtyard has a two-story stable. The stable has a hayloft opening beneath a shaped gable and two two-light mullioned windows facing Gorsey Lane.

The Orford Hotel is a substantial and well-detailed building that demonstrates the level of investment made by a regional brewery in new and remodelled public houses, and retains a significant amount of its original layout and fittings.