Arnos Manor Hotel

Arnos Manor Hotel is a house, originally built as a convent, dating from around 1760 and extended in the 19th century, likely around 1850. It was possibly designed by James Bridges for the Quaker and copper smelter William Reeve. The building is constructed from Bath stone with a roof that is not visible. It follows a double-depth plan and is designed in a classical style with applied Gothic detailing.

The main facade is three storeys high, with a seven-window range. It features two full-height canted bays separated by the entrance. The ground floor is rusticated, with plat bands marking each floor and cornice level, topped by a jutting crenellated parapet with corner blocks containing sunken quatrefoils. The entrance porch has a Gibbs surround with frosted rustication and a pediment containing a rocaille cartouche. A lancet arch leads inside, above which is a crenellated parapet. Niche recesses flank the doorway, and a semicircular doorway sits below. Round-headed niches with ogee mouldings are positioned above each side. The join between the porch and the rest of the building suggests that the porch is a later addition.

Ground-floor windows are 6/6 sash windows set back, with three-part segmented heads. Similar sash windows on the first floor have an architrave and ogee moulding, finished with a finial above the string course. The central first-floor window has a similar ogee moulding that forms a cinquefoil over a semicircular opening flanked by pilasters. Smaller 3/3 sash windows are present on the second floor. All windows have interlacing tops. The left-hand elevation includes a single range of blind windows mirroring the front facade. The fenestration returns down the right-hand elevation for a seven-window range, with some windows blocked off.

The interior originally contained some of Thomas Stocking’s finest Rococo plasterwork. Surviving examples include trellised roses and birds on the former Drawing Room ceiling, which also features fielded shutters and moulded wall panels. An oval centrepiece remains on the stairwell ceiling, and cornices are visible in the entrance hall. The staircase was altered in the 19th century to an imperial staircase that fits within the original apsidal well.

The house was extended and converted into a convent around 1850. It was formerly associated with the Bath House, linked by a tunnel beneath the Bath Road, though this tunnel was removed and the associated architectural elements relocated to Portmeirion in 1957.