The Croft Hotel

The Croft Hotel, originally the Croft Spa Hotel, was built in 1835 by Ignatius Bonomi for Sir William Chaytor. It stands on the Northallerton Road in Croft-on-Tees. The building comprises a main range, a later ballroom range to the left, and a coach house to the right. The exterior is roughcast with a Welsh slate roof.

The main range has an irregular plan with 2, 3, 2, and 1 bays respectively, the central three bays projecting slightly and topped with a coped gable treated as a pediment. A six-panel central door is accessed via a timber porch with square Tuscan columns. Notably, the flat roof of the porch forms a balcony to the first-floor French window above, with a pedimented doorcase incorporating a blind oculus within the tympanum. The windows are sixteen-pane sash windows with ashlar sills, separated by a first-floor band. Stacked chimneys are present between the second and third bays, the fifth and sixth, and the seventh and eighth bays. To the left of the main range, the taller ballroom range has a deep ground floor. To the right, a four-panel door sits within a pedimented Tuscan doorcase. The ballroom windows are fifteen-pane on the ground floor and nine-pane, unequally hung, on the first floor. Ashlar coping runs along the top. The coach house demonstrates a lower profile, featuring segmental-arched ground floor openings with board doors, except for one blocked doorway between the fifth and sixth bays, and side-sliding sash windows on the first floor with a C20 clay pantile roof, hipped to the right.

Inside, the dining room – which projects to the rear – features a decorative plaster ceiling.

The hotel is a reminder of the popularity of Croft Spa. Sulphurous mineral waters were first discovered in the early 17th century with the first bath being erected in 1688. By 1713, the waters were sold in London, and an earlier hotel was built in 1808. Subsequent spa development occurred around 1815 and 1827, with the coming of the railway subsequently increasing visitor numbers. The arrival of the railway gave rise to a number of local lodging houses to serve the visitors to the spa.