Old Hastings House

Old Hastings House is an early to mid-18th century mansion located on the northwest side of High Street. The building features a front made of brick with chamfered stone quoins and a parapet with stone coping. It has slate and tiled hipped roofs and stands three storeys tall, with seven closely spaced windows that have flat brick arches, all of which are sashes without glazing bars. The central porch is supported by Tuscan columns and features an entablature, a glazed door, and a rectangular fanlight. To the right, there is a carriageway above which is a rendered area with one sash window and a tiled roof with a gable end. At the rear, facing southwest, is a wing that has three tall first-floor sashes with an ornate iron balcony and canopy. Attached to the south corner is a late 19th-century square conservatory with splayed angles and a pyramidal roof topped with an ogee-domed lantern.

Inside, the entrance hall is adorned with bolection-moulded panelling, and the rooms feature wooden cornices and a fine contemporary staircase. Notable historical tablets on the exterior commemorate General Murray, a Jurat of Hastings who served with General Wolfe at Quebec, and poet Coventry Patmore, who lived here from 1873 to 1891. John Collier, the mayor of Hastings from 1685 to 1660, also resided here. The building was formerly known as The Mansion and was renamed Old Hastings House in 1892. Old Hastings House, along with its garden walls and gates, forms a group with Torfield House.