Bedford Lodge Hotel

Bedford Lodge Hotel

Hotel, formerly a house. Built circa 1820, extended circa 1885, 1904-5 and late 20th century. Located on the northwest side of Bury Road, Newmarket.

Originally constructed for the sixth Duke of Bedford as his Newmarket residence, the building stands within what were very extensive grounds. The property was subsequently part of a small estate that included Bedford House and Stables, Bedford Cottage (now Rockfield House), the former Bedford Lodge Stables (now separately occupied as Highfield Stables), and Shalfleet Stables.

The building is constructed of stuccoed brick with scribed masonry joints. It has a hipped slate roof with boxed eaves supported on widely spaced timber brackets. Red brick chimney stacks with cornices are a notable feature.

The main structure comprises a double-depth block with a later 19th-century wing at the rear. It is two storeys in height with a band at first-floor level on the front and southwest side defined by raised mouldings.

The front elevation is six windows wide. A projecting single-storey entrance porch with pilasters at the corners projects forward, formerly topped with a cornice below a coped parapet. The porch contains a semi-circular-arched doorway with moulded keystone, glazed doors and fanlight. Each side of the porch features a semi-circular arched sash with glazing bars. To the left of the porch are two sashes and to the right are three sashes. The first floor has six sashes. All sashes feature slender glazing bars in three by four panes and sit in openings with moulded architraves.

On the southwest side stand two full-height canted bays. The ground floor of each bay contains a tall, wide sash in the front and a tall, narrow sash on each side, all with glazing bars (three by five panes in the fronts and two by five panes in the sides). The first floor has shorter sashes (three by four panes in the fronts and two by four panes in the sides), all in openings with moulded architraves.

The interior originally contained reception rooms on the ground floor, many of which are now connected by inserted openings. Original features include panelled window shutters, moulded plaster cornices, and a staircase with stick balusters.

Following the death of the seventh Duke in 1861, the estate was purchased by Sir Joseph Hawley and subsequently sold to William Butler, the Duke's former trainer. Butler demolished the Lodge's original stabling and sold the Lodge to Joe Dawson, who built the main range of stables adjoining it in 1864 (now Highfield Stables). After Dawson's death in 1880, the Lodge and stables passed to Captain J.O. Machell, a racehorse manager who had been associated with Bedford House and Stables since the 1860s. He extended the Lodge circa 1885 to provide additional accommodation, including a saloon for boxing matches, for his lessee George Alexander Baird, a racehorse owner and gentleman jockey. Following Baird's death in 1893, both the Lodge and stables were sold to the Earl of Derby, who commissioned major additions in 1904-5 designed by John Leslie. The house was converted to a hotel in the 1920s. The stables were renamed Shalfleet Stables at this time, with the major part becoming Highfield Stables in 1963.

Late 20th-century extensions for hotel use at the rear and to the west of the 19th-century block are not of special architectural interest.