Cranmer House

Cranmer House is a house dating from 1885, designed by Thomas Cotman for the Cobbold family. It is constructed of red brick with mock timber framing, featuring a plain tile roof and elaborate brick stacks, some with linked flues. The architectural style is vernacular Elizabethan. The house comprises a main range with projecting wings, with two and three storeys and an attic. Windows are mainly sash windows, with scattered fenestration culminating in a large landing window. A projecting brick porch fronts the entrance, featuring a moulded four-centre arched doorway and a brick vault within. Decorative friezes to jetty coving are present, alongside richly carved bargeboards and elaborate dormers with eaves supported on carved brackets. The garden front, facing the sea, has sash windows to the upper floors and mainly 20th-century windows on the ground floor. A prominent, projecting bay window to the centre right develops into a tower with a dome, while a ground-floor veranda with a pentice roof is supported on carved Renaissance-style piers.

The interior is richly appointed. The entrance hall features a carved alabaster and marble canopied fireplace with a boarded settle. A fine mahogany staircase rises through three storeys, with a few steps spanning the centre of the hall; the balustrade has barley-sugar-twist balusters. Mahogany panelled doors are complemented by a library with bookcases incorporating Ionic fluted columns, a decorative plaster ceiling, and a carved fireplace with a marble slip and blue and white Dutch tiles. Three reception rooms facing the sea now incorporate archways; the original decoration remains, including plaster ceilings and carved fireplaces. The western fireplace features a painting of dancing maidens, while the inglenook above the eastern fireplace contains a small copy of Guido Reni's Triumph of Aurora. On the second floor, the tower room has dado panelling, a carved fireplace, and a rich frieze to the ceiling with a shallow dome. A narrow mahogany door leads to a tower room featuring a boarded staircase, bookcases, and windows all round.

Cranmer House is a fine example of a building from the period, reflecting the wealth of the prominent Suffolk family of brewers.