Orford House

Orford House is an early 18th century red brick house built around 1700 for the First Earl of Orford. The house has been altered and extended at the rear. The front facade is two storeys high and features a parapet. It has a three-window-wide arrangement of double-hung sash windows with glazing bars, each set within segmental brick arches with fluted keystones. The central three windows project as a half-hexagonal bay. A Doric doorcase, topped with a modillion pediment and a triglyph frieze, frames the main doorway. The roof is a mix of slate and tile.

Inside, a mid-18th century dog-leg staircase features an open string with carved brackets to the tread ends, two turned balusters per tread, a moulded, ramped, and wreathed handrail, and panelling above and below a dado rail, which mirrors the handrail’s rake. The Quiet Room on the ground floor contains two mid-18th century doorcases: one has a heavily moulded and bolectioned cornice head, while the other features a cornice with egg-and-dart moulding and a bay leaf frieze supported on scrolled brackets. Both are flanked by fielded six-panel doors. The room also has moulded and scrolled window surrounds and shutters to three windows. A mid-18th century chimneypiece with moulded decoration includes a frieze with a central carved face and swags. The overmantel is heavily moulded and decorated, with a dentilled broken pediment containing a basket of fruit and foliage below. A moulded and modillioned ceiling cornice tops the room, alongside Rococo plasterwork with a central sunface, dating to the 1760s. It is believed that William Kent contributed to the design of this room. A large ground floor room to the south has a circa 1770s marble chimneypiece with inlaid marble fluting and a carved centre panel to the frieze. A large first floor bedroom has a late 18th century marble chimneypiece, similarly detailed. Another first floor bedroom to the west has a late 18th century chimneypiece with a marble fireplace, moulded edge, and anthemion decoration to the frieze above. A first floor corridor to the east boasts a circa 1730s chimneypiece with a moulded edge and egg-and-dart moulded surround. A similar, larger chimneypiece, with a cornice mantelshelf, is located in the large room on the mezzanine floor.