The Star House

The Star House is an early 19th-century public house, now a guest house and two houses, situated on Wantz Road, Maldon. The building is constructed of red Flemish-bond brick, painted to number 72, with a slate Mansard roof, hipped at the south end and north-east corner. The exterior presents a seven-window range. The front and north return have a plain parapet with stone coping and a stucco cornice. Dormers are visible on the roof: number 76 has one lean-to dormer with a single vertical glazing bar; number 74 has two 20th-century small-paned dormers; and number 72 has two 2-light casement dormers with lean-to roofs. Number 76 has two 12-pane sashes on the first floor, along with a blind window positioned above a similar window and a semi-circular-headed door. Number 74 is similar, but with a window replacing the blind opening on the first floor. Number 72 is double-fronted, featuring canted sash windows with multiple panes on either side of a central semicircular-arched door. The north flank mirrors this design, with two blind recesses, one blocked door, and a 12-pane sash window on the ground floor. The rear of number 72, also of red brick, has three 12-pane sash windows on the first floor, along with a lean-to, slate-roofed rear block, and two old rooflights within the Mansard roof. The rear elevations of numbers 74 and 76 have 20th-century windows, with casements on number 74 and small-paned sashes on number 76. Inside, number 72 retains a reeded 19th-century fireplace. The building operated as The Star Public House until the 1970s. It has been suggested that the building was originally constructed as two separate units.