Valley of Rocks Hotel

Valley of Rocks Hotel

An early-19th-century hotel that was substantially rebuilt and extended in the mid and late 19th century, latterly to the designs of architect Rowland Plumbe.

The building is constructed of rubble stone with ashlar dressings to the west wing. The east wing to the front is rubble stone with red brick dressing, clay tile hanging to the upper floor, a timber balcony and a stone portico. The rear of the east wing is rendered with stone dressings. Roofs are covered in clay tile and slate. Sash windows and interior joinery are timber. Cast-iron atrium fittings were supplied by W. MacFarlane of Glasgow.

The building is broadly rectangular on plan. Situated on a site sloping down to the east, it rises to three or four storeys plus a basement and, to the east wing, an attic floor.

The elevations show an eclectic mix of styles reflecting the phased building campaign between around 1880 and 1890. The west elevations of the west wing are the earliest and symmetrically arranged with an altered central opening. Original openings to the façade and west flank have eared architraves and stone cills, with smaller openings to the second floor.

The façade and flank elevations to the east wing make generous use of red brick for window architraves and quoins. Corner bays are canted, with a further three-storey canted bay on the east flank. The central entrance bay is set slightly forward and features a muscular Classical stone portico with steps up to glazed double doors with decorative glazing bars and coloured upper lights. "Valley of Rocks Hotel" is painted in script on the frieze. The elevations rise to a deep attic floor with turrets, half-hipped gables and small dormers with oversailing eaves and finials. The upper floor is tile hung with clay fish-scale tiles. To the left of the entrance bay is a 2:2:2 arrangement of paired bays; the central pair has a ground-floor door and a projecting timber balcony above with turned balustrade and columns and a hipped clay tile roof. Most openings have segmental heads; those to the lower ground floor have flat heads.

The rear bays of the east flank and the garden front of this wing are rendered with restrained Classical treatment featuring storey bands and eaves cornice. Openings and dormers have plain architraves and keystones, or are pedimented in some principal cases, and have deep cills with console brackets. Some openings have decorative cast-iron balconies. Sweeping stone steps with cast-iron handrails lead up to the main garden doors set in a projecting porch with reeded Corinthian pilasters. To the right, the earlier wing has stone flat arches, except to the left bays at upper-floor level, which have round heads and a triangular opening in the gable end above. At ground floor is a late-20th-century addition to the restaurant with large plate-glass openings.

The attic-floor windows are uPVC replacements, and rainwater goods are a mixture of plastic and cast iron. Roofs have substantial ridge stacks.

The interior vestibule has encaustic floor tiles by the door (and possibly under carpeted areas) and timber wainscoting. A timber-panelled reception desk stands to the left, with an office behind. Double doors set within a curved glazed case lead into the lounge. An atrium with cast-iron fittings, coved ceiling and lantern with margin glazing spans half the lounge. The atrium arcades have been lined with fireproof board. The rear of the lounge has a central sprung dance floor, probably of late 19th or early 20th-century date, and seating areas to each side with decoratively-tiled cast-iron fireplaces with marble chimneypieces. Ceiling cornices span the lounge with timber joinery. A room to the right, the "writing room", has a marble chimneypiece, cornices and joinery.

Double doors lead to further bar and restaurant areas, all with 19th-century joinery and a further marble chimneypiece. The restaurant at the west end has been opened out into a late-20th-century extension, but retains some joinery and 19th-century stained glass by Swaine Bourne and Son, some facing into an internal courtyard. A panelled glazed alcove built into the rear wall of the restaurant is a display case for the guest book relating to the Lynmouth Flood of 1952. The main stair stands behind a heavily moulded arcade, formerly part of the atrium ensemble but now separated by a partition. The stair has a substantial timber balustrade with vase balusters and linenfold panels. The upper floors have joinery and round arches to the stairs, originally the atrium arcades. Bedrooms have been subdivided and refurbished at various dates.

The extensive, compartmentalised basement appears to date in part from the early-19th-century original hotel phase, as indicated by at least one stair that does not reflect the plan of the building above. The original coke boiler remains much altered and converted to oil; it still serves the hotel where some radiators to principal rooms and corridors are of late-19th-century date. Further 19th-century features may remain in situ in the hotel, including light fittings and boarded stained glass. A tunnel is thought to run under the road to former staff accommodation opposite.