Millfields

Millfields is a house that has been converted into a hotel, built in 1879 for Robert Cook, a chemist. It has undergone minor alterations in the late 20th century, including a conservatory addition in 1993. The building is constructed of red brick with ashlar dressings and features a concrete tile roof, designed in the Jacobethan style.

The house has a rectangular plan with a central entrance hall and two rooms on either side. It stands two storeys tall and has three symmetrical bays. The wide central entrance porch is flanked by rectangular bay windows on the ground floor, while the first-floor central bay projects forward. The porch features a tripartite entrance supported by Ionic columns, which carry keyed round arches adorned with ornate floral relief carvings in the spandrels. The inner entrance is round-headed, with a half-glazed door and fanlight set in an ashlar surround.

The flanking bays have a plinth and 3-light mullioned windows fitted with plate-glass sashes. A continuous cornice and balustrade run along the first-floor level, interrupted above the porch by an oriel window with narrow sashes. The side bays also have 3-light mullioned windows in quoined surrounds. An ashlar entablature at the eaves level features a moulded cornice. The side bays have ashlar parapets with scrollwork relief panels, while the central bay boasts a balustrade above the oriel and a shaped gable that includes a carved dated cartouche, moulded coping, and ball finials. The roof is hipped, and there are partly projecting side-wall stacks with corniced caps and tall elaborate pots. The right return of the building features a full-height canted bay with a balustraded parapet.

Inside, the entrance hall is notable for its panelled doors in architraves with ornate overdoors, a polychrome tile floor, and a moulded arch leading to the staircase hall, which contains a cantilevered wooden staircase and a panelled pine ceiling. Millfields is recognized as one of the best surviving large houses from this period in the Grimsby area.