Description

CROFT-ON-TEES A 167
NZ 2809-2909
(west side)
10/29 Croft Spa Hotel

GV II

Hotel. 1835. By Ignatius Bonomi for Sir William Chaytor. Roughcast, Welsh
slate roof. 2 storeys. Irregular plan. Main range of 2:3:2:1 bays, with
4-bay ballroom range added probably c1860 to left, and 6-bay coach-house to
right. Main range: "central" 3 bays project slightly, with coped gable
treated as pediment; the side bays successively recessed. Central 6-panel
door below fanlight, with timber porch of square Tuscan columns with
exaggerated entasis, the flat roof forming balcony to first-floor French
window above, with pedimented doorcase which breaks into the band forming
effect of pediment, and has blind oculus in tympanum. 16-pane sash windows
with ashlar sills. First-floor band. Stacks between second and third,
fifth and sixth, seventh and eighth bays. To left: ballroom range is taller
and with deep ground floor; to right, 4-panel door in pedimented Tuscan
doorcase; 15-pane sash windows on ground floor, 9-pane unequally hung sashes
on first floor. Ashlar coping. Stack at right end. To right: coach-house
is lower; segmental-arched openings on ground floor, with board doors except
in sixth where blocked, and with blocked doorway between fifth and sixth
bays; side-sliding sash windows on first floor; C20 clay pantile roof,
hipped to right. Interior: the dining room, which projects to the rear, has
a decorative plaster ceiling. The hotel is a relic of the heyday of Croft
Spa preserved in its original condition. The sulpherous mineral waters of
Croft were first noticed early in the C17, and the first bath was erected in
1688. By 1713 the waters were being sold in London in sealed bottles at
high prices. The first hotel was built in 1808. A new suite of baths was
built c1815 at the Old Spa (qv) by Sir William Chaytor, followed c1827 by
the New Spa (qv), which had hot and cold baths. The coming of the railway
brought more visitors, and the station was called Croft Spa Station. To
accommodate visitors to the "Wells", a large number of lodging houses were
built. T Bulmer, History, Topography and Directory of North Yorkshire,
(1890), p 414; H Colvin, A Biographical Dictionary of British Architects
1600-1840, (1978), p 123; T A Littleton, "Cure-All?", an article on Croft
Spa published in Richmond and District Civic Society Annual Report (1982),
pp 25-27; VCH i, p 163; W White, History, Gazetteer and Directory of the
North and East Ridings of Yorkshire (1840), p 414.

Listing NGR: NZ2885709770

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Croft Spa Hotel at Wikipedia
• Wikidata Q26474158

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

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