Description

TQ 19 NE ALDENHAM BUTTERFLY LANE
(South side)
Elstree

7/23 Aldenham House
1.9.53 and Stable Block

- II*

Former Country House, now school. c.1672 for H.Coghill the Younger.
Extended and altered 1785 for R.Hucks the Younger and possibly c.1740
for R.Hucks the Elder. Much enlarged and remodelled 1870-3 for
H.H.Gibbs probably by A.Blomfield. Further work in 1883. Flemish bond
red brick with stone dressings. Tiled roofs with Welsh slate to front
pitches. Originally an L on-plan. 2 storeys and attic. Front: 2:3:2,
slightly projecting centre. Ground floor: steps with short balustrades
to 1870 loggia addition carefully following C17 model. Ionic pedimented
portico to round headed central entrance. Flanking glazing bar sashes,
moulded flush frames, egg and dart on lintels. Gauged brick flat arched
heads. Plain stone cornice to stone coped parapet. Projecting piers at
ends of loggia with urn finials. First floor: central aedicular surround
to smaller window in reveal, lugs and pilaster strips to jambs. Flanking
18 pane sashes. Mutule eaves cornice and pediment to central 3 bays. 2
light dormers: 2 segmental heads flanked by 2 pedimental heads. Hipped
roof with central valley. Two front ridge stacks, rebuilt in C19 with
corbelled out caps. Garden front to right: 2:3:2. 1785 canted bay to
centre: stone plinth, keyed stone architraves to centre, flanking stone
keys to gauged brick heads. String course at ground floor sill level.
Modillioned cornice, balustraded parapet, 4 richly carved urn finials.
Flanking bays as at front with brick plinth, plat band separates storeys
with lower moulded course. 3 gabled dormers to centre. Rebuilt axial
ridge stack to rear. Hipped roof. Attached to rear of garden wing: 1883
1 storey porch with ornate stone dressings, Corinthian pilasters,
balustraded parapet with pediment and urn finals to rear. Sundial on
extruded stack on original end wall, offsets to C19 cap. Flanking sashes
and a segmental headed dormer to left. Original left return from front:
1st floor blind windows. Attached to left of C17 house and projecting
forward is 1 storey C18 addition. Ionic Venetian window to front.
Balustraded parapet. Further left and further forward is 1870 addition:
attached Ionic order of brick pilasters with entasis, stone bases and
capitals. Tall casements with lugged architraves surmounted by scroll
buttressed panels, frieze and segmental pediment to central window
architrave interrupting cornice and balustraded parapet continuing from
C18 block. Further left and set back: 1883 clock tower and court room. 2
storeys with sashes, plinth, plat band. 2 Dutch gables that to right
interrupted by clock tower which rises from above a cornice and a round
headed window in a relieving arch. Small round headed lights in tower
with small terracotta twisted colonnettes in reveals. Balustraded stone
parapet projects on shaped corbels. Slate roof rises to clock chamber,
segmental pediments to each face, ogee dome, weather vane. Inside angle
of original L are rambling 2-storey brick extensions of C18 and C19. To
rear: an entrance to 1883 dining room, first floor oriel to right.
Interior: Hall: richly carved panelling, chimneypiece. Library: C18
doorcases, chimneypiece and ceiling. Chapel: C17 panelling. Dining Room:
De Morgan tiles in large fireplace. Further C18 work on ground floor and
first floor. Dogleg stair with barley twist balusters. 2 storey C18
service wing extends to rear left. Sashes, keyed flat arched heads. Plat
band. Dentilled eaves cornice. Parapet. Leading to stables enclosing a
yard. 1785 by Gray and Perry, Builders for R.Hucks the Younger, date on
stone. Brick. Tiled roofs. 2:3:2 projecting centre. 2 storeys. Front:
ground floor relieving arches over central entrance and flanking
lunettes. Stone sills. Plat band. First floor: central Diocletian window
with key block, flanking 6 light casements with flat arched heads.
Dentilled brick eaves. Pediment with stone blocked blind oculus. Gable
end coped parapet. Double ridge. Left return: ground floor round headed
windows, first floor relieving arches over sashes, dentilled cornice. To
left front a wall projects forward to a stone capped pier with a ball
finial. In wall a stone plaque records enlargement of house and
outbuildings and addition of tower by H.H.Gibbs 1870-3. Extending to
right of main front a low wall surmounted by a balustrade. Further
additions to NE are of no special interest. C19 formal garden to E.
Remnants of early C20 water gardens to NW. Site formerly known as
Wigbournes. (RCHM Typescript: Pevsner 1977: Country Life 22/2/1924: VCH
1923).

Listing NGR: TQ1685196530

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Aldenham House at Wikipedia
• Wikidata Q4713600

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

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  Kent: West and the Weald: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
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  Norfolk 1: Norwich and North-East: Norwich and North-east v. 1 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
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  Churches: An Architectural Guide (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Introductions)
• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides): Written by Charles O'Brien, 2014 Edition, Publisher: Yale University Press [Hardcover]
• 
  Devon (Pevsner Buildings of England)
• 
  Maintaining and Repairing Old Houses: A Guide to Conservation, Sustainability and Economy