Description

ROCHESTER CROW LANE
TQ 7468 SW
9/26 Restoration House
Including wall and
24.10.50 gatepiers attached
to front
GV I
Large town house. Possibly late medieval in origin; the present
building appears to be c.1588-1600 with a major remodelling of
the facade and interior in the mid-C17. Occupied by Nicholas
Morgan in the late C16 and conveyed in 1607 to Henry Clarke,
Recorder of Rochester (1621-8) Red and brown brick, mainly in
English bond (and variants); Kent tile roofs. 2 storeys with
attics. Plan: U-shaped. The hall, cross-passage and former
services (with solar above) aligned N/S under the same roof. N
and S wings of different dates, the S wing of two or more builds.
Central part of facade elaborately re-faced and a porch added in
mid-C17, perhaps the 1620s. The building is complex and would
repay detailed analysis. Exterior. Front: central part, 5 bays,
1, 3 and 5 break forward, 3 (the porch) is wider and gives the
illusion being central. 1 and 5 contain stairs. Continuous
moulded cornice; the parapet is broken over the porch by a tall
attic with shaped gable. Gable window with complex moulded
cornice, plain suround. Porch has giant order of pilasters;
round-headed doorway with niche above; ground floor rusticated.
All 1st floor windows in raised and lobed architraves with
rusticated aprons; ground-floor windows in reusticated surrounds;
quaining to all angles. Some casements with transoms and
mullions (some contemporary); some hornless sashes in flush
surrounds. The overall effect is energetic and oddly compressed
between the wings. N and S wings markedly asymmetrical. N (to
left), hipped roof; front with one C18 or C19 window to each
floor with flush surrounds and 6, 12 and 18-pane hornless sashes;
inner face of wing with 2 windows to all floors, those to 1st
floor with hood moulds, the smaller of the ground floor windows
originally lighting an inglenook or side-passage. Moulded 1st
floor string returns, but does not connect with that of the
central part. S wing with shaped gables both to the front, and
the inner face of a secondary room placed in the angle formed by
hall and wing. Moulded string courses at 1st and attic levels
return and include the secondary room. Irregular fenestration
to this feature which clearly pre-dates the hall range facade
which abuts it and cuts across one of the windows. Front (S) of
wing with mullioned and transomed windows to 1st and attic floor,
and 2 large 19-pane sash windows to ground floor. N elevation.
Irregular fenestration with several early windows with mullions
and transoms some with diamond leading. Privy block, with
original roundel venitlators; massive external stack to end of
hall range. Later (but probably C17) buttress at S end. Much
brick patching. rear. 5 window range with massive external
stack (to hall) between bays 1 and 2. 4 hipped, 3-light dormers.
1st floor windows replaced in C18 and C19, all with 12-pane
hornless sashes in revealed frames, 1 to 3 with segmental arches.
1st floor continuous plat band. Early windows with mullions and
transoms to ground floor and cellar to bays 1, 2 and 3; bay 2
with rear entry to cross passage with C17 decorated door in
surround and 2-light window over. External flight of steps.
Right hand windows C19 or later, one of them a 4:12:4 tripartite
sash. Evidence of privy block adjacent to the right hand and
stack. The S wing is set back considerably from rear wall-place
of hall range: canted bay under ogee leaded roof; 2:4:2 1st floor
window with moulded mullions and transom; similar window to
ground floor with later door punched through. Interior: former
services (to left, or N of cross-passage) opened out in C17 to
form the principal stair hall. Open-well stair with barley-sugar
balusters, shaped pendants, square-section newels; timber ribbing
beneath. Panelled dado later. Secondary service stairs with
splat balusters to W (occupying bay 1 of facade - see exterior).
Hall with 4 tiers of panelling to walls; large wooden overmantel
with shaped pilasters and panels, strapwork and dentil cornice,
the stone fireplace with cyma mouldings and C16 profile and high-
set stops. 1st floor: principal bedroom (in position of former
solar) entered through elaborate doorcase; panelled dado with
paintings showing scenes from Tennyson's version of Aeniad, 1874-
80 by Mr Aveling who occupied the house and brought various
fittings here from elsewhere. Chamber above Hall: 2 tiers of
full-height wall panelling: carved surround to fireplace with
marble and gilded woodwork. S wing, ground floor: rear parlour
with 6-tier panelling (cornice with strapwork, panels with
pilasters) to 2 walls, larger panels elsewhere. Unusual fire
surround with flanking terms representing war and peace. Front
parlour: over-mantel with paired Corinthian columns. Interior
not fully inspected. The house is noticed in avray Topping's
article on Rochester, Country Life 55(1924), 358-62.

Listing NGR: TQ7436868222

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Restoration House at Wikipedia
• Restoration House official website
• Wikidata Q7316210

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.

Recommended Books

• 
  For the Record
• 
  Surrey (The Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Northumberland (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Pevsner's Architectural Glossary (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Introductions)
• 
  Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990: Updated version
• 
  London 3: North West: North West v. 3 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)