The Swan Hotel

Hotel, built between 1794 and 1796 for Francis Russell, 5th Duke of Bedford, to designs by Henry Holland, and extended between 1906 and 1908 by Thomas Thurlow.

MATERIALS: the late C18 hotel is constructed of Totternhoe clunch with a Welsh slate roof covering.

PLAN: It is rectangular on plan, facing west to High Street, with rectangular-plan extensions extending east.

EXTERIOR: The Swan Hotel is a three-and-half storey building, gable-fronted facing west to High Street. The pitched roof has a Welsh slate covering, and the walls are constructed of ashlar Totternhoe clunch, with a modillion cornice over the second floor, a continuous sill course to the first floor, and a continuous platband over the ground floor. The west front has a pediment to the gable containing a lunette panel and Diocletian attic window, and the ground, first and second floors each have three bays. The second floor has flat-arched three-over-three timber sash windows, the first floor window surrounds are segmental-arched and the ground floor windows flat-arched, both containing tripartite timber sash windows with mullions (stone to the ground floor and timber to the first floor). To the centre of the west front is a tetrastyle Ionic porch with a balustraded parapet, framing a segmental-arched door surround with an intricate traceried fanlight, sidelights, and C20 half-glazed doors. The south front to the Embankment has five bays of flat-arched sash windows; the second and fourth bays of the first floor have segmental wooden oriels overlooking the river, and the other bays of the first floor are blind. The rear (east) gable is constructed of coursed rubble stone, with three bays similar to the front elevation. A three-and-half storey four-bay extension was added to the rear between 1906 and 1908, with a pediment over the central two bays, modillion cornice, flat-arched timber sash windows with horns, and a modillion pediment to its east gable.

INTERIOR: the interior has a late-C17 staircase, said to have been relocated from Houghton House in 1794.