Stanley House Hotel, The Old

Stanley House was the manor house of Mellor and in 2004 was bought by the Walker family (of Walker Steel) and converted into a hotel. The Manor house was virtually derelict when it was purchased, it has since been converted in 12 individually designed bedrooms with a comfortable lobby. As a Grade II listed building was sympathetically renovated and the function (apart from now being a hotel) has barely changed.

The function of the house is to appear welcoming as a hotel but the rooms need to be private.

The house has an obvious approach with paths leading from the residents car park and the back of the main building (mostly used by staff), three paths also join together from the brasserie, main car park and residents car park which circle around a circular area of the garden and then lead on the main path to the house.

The main entrance door is large and oak and leads into a porch area before the half oak half glass door which leads into the lobby. The entrance of the hotel and stairs extends out from the rest of the house making a very prominent architectural feature. In the dark there are lights outside which produce a warm inviting glow and lead to the main front door.

From the outside you can see into the lobby because of the lights but it is hard to see into the room on the ground floor. This is because the windows are four long rectangular windows which let in a lot of light but are more private than one big window. Obviously the windows have not been changed since the house was built in 1650 (Grade II listing means no historical material can be removed or anything which will change the character of the building). There are windows on every face of the house, this is because of the individual rooms and all the windows are as mentioned above with four small rectangular windows together.

The house is surrounded by grass on both sides and the back, this deters people from walking around the back of the house. This is mainly because the ground floor room with disabled access has a terrace which means it is kept private. There is no shade from the main building of the hotel as the house is not connected and they are about 500 yards away from each other.

The lobby is is very welcoming with an inglenook fireplace housing a wood burning fire, this alone is very welcoming as it gives the hotel a homely feel (compared to the main building which is very sleek and modern). The furnishings are very plush with rich colours and comfortable chairs, and the dark polished wood adds to the warm and homely feel. This means the feeling is welcoming and open to everyone as this is the communal area.

The circulation of the house is very important as people need to feel they are free to walk around the lobby but that the rest of the rooms remain private to those who are staying in them. The flow is fairly structured as depending on the room the customer is staying in dictates the way they move around the house. The lobby leads through a door onto a corridor containing the doors of the ground floor rooms or a door to the right leading to the main staircase, another door leads to the door of the last ground floor room and the fire exit. On the next two floors, corridors lead to two doors on either side which lead to the bedrooms.

The grand staircase is square in shape meaning that the dead space is reduced, under the ground floor staircase is the house keeping cupboard. The staircase leads onto a corridor which leads off through 2 doors to the rooms and the same again on the next landing.

The house is very grand and imposing in the surroundings and sits well within the manicured gardens and modern hotel. The house is connected to the history of the adjacent village and is not intrusive to residential areas surrounding it. I believe it has renewed the interest of the local history as many people were not aware it was there before.

http://www.stanleyhouse.co.uk