Elm Bank Hotel

Elm Bank Hotel is a house, later adapted as a hotel, dating from circa 1870, with significant remodelling in 1898 for Sidney Leetham by William and Alfred Penty, and interior decoration by George Walton. Later 20th-century alterations have also occurred. The building is constructed of white brick in a Flemish bond, with ashlar dressings, and has hipped slate roofs with wide eaves supported by shaped brackets. A pyramidal lead roof with a tapering finial tops a tower. Brick stacks are present, some of which are truncated.

The front entrance features two storeys and five bays. The central bay projects and includes a single-storey Doric porch with paired detached columns and a dentilled cornice. The panelled front door has a square-pane overlight within a keyed round-arched architrave flanked by paired pilasters. Windows are predominantly single-pane sashes, now with four-pane secondary glazing, set within cambered brick arches and stone sills. A raised moulded band encircles the building. The front facing The Mount has two storeys and five bays, with the central bays projecting as a three-window segmental bow forming a balcony to the first floor. This section features square-headed windows separated by pilasters supporting an entablature and pierced parapet. Flanking windows have been altered to casements; those on the first floor mirroring the design of the entrance front.

The rear elevation exhibits a four-storey tower with a rusticated stone ground floor. A French window is located on the first floor and two round-headed sash windows are on the second floor, both featuring cantilevered balconies with heavy balustrades. The top floor contains round-arched sash windows on each face, with those on opposing faces separated by external stacks.

The interior is notable as an extensive and complete example of Art Nouveau decoration, considered one of the finest surviving in England and illustrated in 'The Studio' in 1901. The stairhall and principal ground floor rooms are panelled and decorated with wall and ceiling paintings and stencils. One fireplace has a marble overmantel inlaid with glass and ceramics. The two-storey stairhall features a stencilled barrel vaulted ceiling with an original pendant light fitting; a staircase with turned balusters leads to a first-floor gallery. Many windows incorporate original stained glass.

George Walton, who worked in Glasgow and was a contemporary of Charles Rennie Mackintosh, undertook the Art Nouveau decoration. He was a pioneer of the style, and his work at Elm Bank represents some of his earliest commissions outside of Scotland. He operated from premises at No. 21 Stonegate in York, between 1898 and 1902.