Arnos Manor Hotel

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Arnos Manor Hotel
Arnos Manor Hotel 2.jpg
Arnos Manor Hotel
Location Brislington, Bristol, England
Coordinates 51°26′29″N2°33′39″W / 51.4415°N 2.5608°W / 51.4415; -2.5608
AreaSouth-west England
Built17th-19th centuries
ArchitectAttributed to James Bridges
Architectural style(s) Gothic Revival
Governing bodyPrivate
Listed Building – Grade II*
Official nameArnos Manor Hotel
Designated8 January 1959
Reference no.1201988
Listed Building – Grade I
Official nameBlack Castle Public House (formerly the stables to Arnos Court)
Designated8 January 1959
Reference no.1292881
Listed Building – Grade II*
Official nameArno's Court Triumphal Arch (formerly the entrance gate to Arnos Court)
Designated8 January 1959
Reference no.1203684
Listed Building – Grade II
Official nameFormer Convent at rear of Arnos Manor Hotel
Designated8 January 1959
Reference no.1203961
Listed Building – Grade II*
Official nameThe Bristol Colonnade (formerly the frontage of the Arnos Court bathhouse, now at Portmeirion)
Designated14 January 1971
Reference no.4878

Arnos Manor Hotel (formerly Mount Pleasant, Arnos Court or Arno's Court) is an 18th-century house, now a hotel, in Brislington, a southern suburb of the City of Bristol in south-west England. The original house dates from the 17th century. In around 1740 the estate was bought by William Reeve, a Bristol industrialist, who converted the first house to a service wing and built a new mansion next to it. Reeve's architect was likely James Bridges. In the 1760s, Reeve embellished the estate with the construction of a stable block in the form of a mock castle, now the Black Castle public house; an entrance archway, the Arno's Court Triumphal Arch; a bathhouse with a colonnaded frontage; and by giving the front of his new house an early Gothick makeover. The hotel is a Grade II* listed building, while the Black Castle pub is listed at Grade I, and the Triumphal Arch at Grade II*. The bathhouse was demolished in the 1950s, when its colonnaded façade was moved to Portmeirion in North Wales. This structure is also listed at Grade II*.

Contents

History

The original house on the Arnos Court site dated from the 17th century. [1] In around 1740 the estate was bought by William Reeve, who had made his money through the production of copper and brass. [2] Reeve repurposed the original house as a service wing and built a new house adjoining it in a neoclassical style. His architect may have been James Bridges. [1] In the 1760s, Reeve redeveloped the estate as a pleasure ground, using an early Gothic Revival style. Andrew Foyle, in his Somerset: North and Bristol volume in the Pevsner Buildings of England series, revised and re-issued in 2011, suggests the Gothic work may have been by the Bristolian builders, Thomas and James Paty. [a] [1] Developments included a stable block in a castellated style, constructed from compressed slag generated from Reeve's metal furnaces, [3] and an entrance arch which contains some genuine medieval fragments. [4] The court itself was given a "superficial" Gothick makeover. [1]

The estate was heavily developed in the 20th century, and the bathhouse Reeves had constructed in the grounds was demolished, its façade salvaged by Clough Williams-Ellis who re-erected it in the grounds of his fantasy village, Portmeirion, on the North Wales Coast. [1] The stables, now a public house, were separated from the court by a road widening scheme for the A4, and the arch was moved to its present location. [4] The court is now a hotel. [5]

Architecture and description

Arnos Court Hotel is a three-storey main block, with an attached service wing. The planning is entirely classical, but the main house has what Andrew Foyle describes as a "superficial Gothic trim". [1] The building was extended to the rear in the 19th century when it was used as a convent. [b] [6]

Arnos Manor Hotel is a Grade II* listed building. [2] The Black Castle pub is listed at Grade I, [3] and the Triumphal Arch at Grade II*. [4] The colonnaded façade of the bathhouse, now at Portmeirion, is also listed at Grade II*. [7] The former convent building is listed at Grade II. [6]

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ The use of a Gothic Revival style in the 1760s was progressive. Horace Walpole, who later described the Arnos stables as the "Devil's Cathedral", had begun "Gothicising" Strawberry Hill House only ten years earlier. [1]
  2. ↑ The chapel of the former convent now houses the hotel's snooker room. [6]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Foyle & Pevsner 2011, pp. 420–421.
  2. 1 2 Historic England. "Arnos Manor Hotel (Grade II*) (1201988)". National Heritage List for England . Retrieved 12 November 2024.
  3. 1 2 Historic England. "Black Castle Public House (Grade I) (1292881)". National Heritage List for England . Retrieved 12 November 2024.
  4. 1 2 3 Historic England. "Arno's Court Triumphal Arch (Grade II*) (1203684)". National Heritage List for England . Retrieved 12 November 2024.
  5. ↑ "Arnos Manor Hotel, Venue & Lounge". Arnos Manor Hotel. Retrieved 13 November 2024.
  6. 1 2 3 Historic England. "Former Convent at rear of Parkside (now Arnos Manor) Hotel (Grade II) (1203961)". National Heritage List for England . Retrieved 13 November 2024.
  7. ↑ Cadw. "Bristol Colonnade (Grade II*) (4878)". National Historic Assets of Wales. Retrieved 12 November 2024.

Sources

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