Description

TQ 64 SE BRENCHLEY GEDGES HILL (west side)

6/83 Pippins

GV II

House, converted from a studio, designed in 1883 by John Belcher for Theresa
Sassoon, an oil painter. Extensions and alterations of the late C20. Main
block English bond brick to the ground floor, the first floor framed
construction. Rear wing English bond brick; peg-tile roofs; brick stacks.
Vernacular Revival style.

Plan: Sited behind (west of) Weirleigh (q.v.), bought by the Sassoon family
in 1882. Overall L-plan. The main block is roofed on a west east axis and
entered on the north side. A rear (west) wing, one-room on plan, heated by a
stack at the junction between the 2 blocks. This has been extended to the
south giving 2 rooms. Stair projection on the north side. The plan has been
altered in the C20, but the original arrangement is still largely discernable.
The main block contained an entrance hall and stair with probably a small
service room to the east. The crosswing consisted of a large full-height
single-storey room heated by a fire with an Arts and Crafts inglenook. The
first floor of the main block was one large panelled room heated from the same
stack which has a section of horizontal flue. This first floor room has been
subdivided and the single-storey room in the wing has an inserted floor.

Exterior: 2 storeys. Symmetrical one-window east end, the framed first floor
jettied with a moulded fascia board, the gable above coved and jettied, the
eaves with moulded bargeboards. The ground floor has a 5-light bay window
with moulded timber mullions. The first floor bay window is similar with a
high transom, both windows glazed with square leaded panes. The first floor
framing includes a frieze of quatrefoils below the window, close studding and
ogee braces. The panels in the gable are filled with studs in herringbone
patterns. The right (north) return has 2 gables to the right, one the stair
projection with the porch alongside to the left, the far right hand gable is
the end of the crosswing. The porch is flat-roofed and has evidently been
altered although the deep brackets supporting the roof are original as is the
Tudor arched ovolo-moulded doorframe and moulded panelled front door on the
east return. C20 2-light casement with square leaded panes on the north side
of the porch. The gable end of the crosswing is divided into 2 bays by 3 full
height brick buttresses with moulded stone set-offs. The original windows in
the end of the wing have unfortunately been replaced by C20 metal-framed
casements. The first floor of the main block, to the left, is timber-framed
with close-studding and ogee braces and a 6-light mullioned transomed window
with moulded mullions and transoms and square leaded panes. The stair
projection, to the right, has one ground floor one-light stone window with a
chamfered frame and blind trefoil above. The first floor is jettied with a
moulded fascia, a 3-light transomed window matching the one in the main range,
moulded bargeboards and elaborate framing including herringbone patterns and a
frieze of diamond-shaped motifs with inward curving sides. The south return
of the main block is in the same style but has had all but 2 of its original
windows replaced by C20 metal-framed windows. It preserves an original
panelled door in an ovolo-moulded frame and 3 bays of an original sturdy
timber verandah with Tudor arches on plain posts. The verandah roof is now
covered with corrugated plastic. The west elevation of the crosswing is
largely concealed by an outbuilding. The C20 addition has aluminium-framed
windows.

Interior: A number of interesting original features survive. Dog-leg stair
with turned balusters, the landing balustrade panelled and crowned with a
narrow frieze of splat balusters. The crosswing has an elaborate Arts and
Crafts inglenook fireplace, the recess defined by a moulded Tudor arch
springing from brattished corbels. The chimney-piece is stone with a moulded
Tudor arch and a tiled surround of probably William de Morgan tiles. The
remainder of the room was originally open to the roof timbers, 2 fine arch
braced trusses with queen posts survive in the roofspace. The first floor in
the main range preserves most of its Arts and Crafts wall panelling, although
some of this has been re-sited when the first floor was sub-divided. The room
originally had a canted ceiling with a moulded cornice, the ceiling covered
with embossed paper. This survives in the roofspace.

Theresa Sassoon was the sister of Sir Hamo Thornycroft, the sculptor. He
executed the sculpture on the Institute of Chartered Accountants, designed by
John Belcher, and it was presumably this personal connection that led to
Belcher designing the studio.

Group value with Weirleigh, the family home of Siegfried Sassoon, Theresa
Sassoon's son.

Listing NGR: TQ6637442729

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26541719

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

• 
  Hertfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Staffordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Dorset (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Gwent/Monmouthshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Wales)
• 
  For the Record
• 
  Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair