Ormesby Old Hall

Ormesby Old Hall is a house dating from the mid-17th century, significantly refronted and remodelled in 1735. The house is constructed of brick with slate roofs, and follows a double pile plan.

The south front is notable for its header bond brickwork, a rare feature. It is arranged over two storeys with seven bays, the central three bays projecting forward beneath a pediment. A central panelled door is set within panelled reveals, and is framed by a timber doorcase consisting of Tuscan columns on high pedestals supporting a Doric entablature. Above the door is a high-relief carving of a bearded head surrounded by fruit and foliage. Windows are sash windows with glazing bars, each with a gauged skewback arch above. A platband runs along the first floor, while rusticated quoins are visible at the east and west ends of the elevation. A moulded brick eaves cornice sits below a high, stone-capped parapet, which features two groups of ten balusters, and five symmetrically placed stone urns. The roof is gabled, with two flat-topped dormers. Four symmetrical ridge stacks are present.

The north elevation reveals the building's earlier 17th-century origins. It is two storeys with a dormer attic, and has eight bays. A Gibbsian doorway is located in the third bay from the right, containing an original pegged and panelled door, with a six-paned fanlight above. A broken segmental pediment, supported by keystones, frames an urn. Sash windows with glazing bars, within flush frames and segmental gauged skewback arches, are consistent throughout. A deep brick ovolo and rolled platband runs along the first floor, dating from the 17th century. An eaves platband sits below the parapet. The gabled roof features three flat-topped dormers, as well as a western gable end stack and a ridge stack to the left of centre.

A single-storey brick and slate library, designed by R.W. Edis in 1900, adjoins the western gables. It has four sash windows to the west and a Gibbsian French window to the north, and is topped by a hipped roof.

The interior entrance hall is square, with panelled doors within shouldered architraves, leading to the principal rooms. A marble fireplace features an acanthus leaf ovolo frieze with egg and dart motifs. A round arch leads into a rear range containing a staircase. The moulded plaster cornice incorporates dentilation, egg and dart, and guilloche patterns. A room to the west contains large-framed panelling, while another features a plaster cornice with billet and egg and dart mouldings, and similar shouldered door architraves. A 19th-century stick baluster staircase has an 18th-century panelled dado, a ramped and wreathed handrail, and a plastered stairwell ceiling. A rear west room contains a marble fireplace with a high-relief timber swag, attributed to Gibbons though considered more like the work of Ivory, with Rococo arabesques. The modillion cornice is supported by an egg and dart frieze. The library, designed by Edis (who lived at the house), incorporates a set of glazed Gothick bookcases and a tentative plaster ceiling. First-floor rooms continue in a similar style, with large-framed panelling, shouldered and decorated doorways, and moulded cornices.