Description

940/0/10049 GUBBINS LANE
27-AUG-03 The Grange, Harold Wood Hospital

II
The Grange, Harold Wood. Private house, now a hospital administrative centre. 1883, architect unknown. Eclectic English Renaissance style.
MATERIALS: red brick, tiled roof, pre-cast stone window surrounds.
PLAN: rectangular, with kitchen range to north-west; later extensions to rear.
EXTERIOR: Two storeys with attic. Irregular front of seven bays. Projecting gabled entrance bay: projecting tiled porch carried on wooden posts flanking York stone steps leading to glazed front door with margin lights. Moulded brick panels above first floor string-course. Triple mullioned window with decorative glass to top-lights. Tile-hung gable. Bay to left with two-light mullioned windows to each floor. To right of entrance, projecting single-storey lavatory block with decorative glass; triple-light window to first floor. Further right, three double-light mullioned windows to ground floor, smaller sash windows to first floor; in attic, a double-pitched dormer. Right-hand bay projects forward, with four-light mullioned windows to each floor; stepped coping to parapet of bay. Tile-hung gabled hipped roof above. Tall chimney stacks. North return elevation plain to front; attached 1920s generator house of no special interest. South return elevation with single storey conservatory to ground floor (altered), canted bay tower at south-west corner. Irregular rear elevation with mullioned windows to each floor; central tile-hung gablet to centre above a six-light projecting ground floor window.
INTERIOR: Features of note include the following. Entrance lobby: oak panelled, with banquette to one side opposite a marble-topped side table with mirror over. Inner double doors decorated with painted birds and foliage. Ladies' WC to left retains blue-and-white ceramic lavatory. Hall: the principal full-height space, dominated by a square hammerbeam trussed roof above. Winding stair with turned balusters, square newels with finials to top and bottom. Former dining room: panelled to dado height, with raised and fielded panelling. Five-panel door with frieze above; recesses on north side with mirrored receptacles; elaborate chimneypiece to south end with mirrored over-mantel beneath a segmental top. Former billiard room to north of entrance, retains painted glass with billiard balls and cues. Adjoining to north is the former smoking (or gun) room: half-panelled, with moulded wooden box cornice, stamped leather wall-hangings, tiled fireplace surround. The other rooms are less flamboyant but retain various chimneypieces; almost all the joinery is original. Service rooms in the attic.
HISTORY: this house was built in 1883 as a suburban retreat for a City figure named John Compton, owner of the Gubbins estate, who made a fortune as an Army clothier. Sold by his son in 1894 to William Watson, whose WCW monogram is found in the decorative glass in the hall, it was acquired by the West Ham county borough council and opened as The Grange convalescent home for children in 1909. Numerous alterations were undertaken thereafter, including the addition of a large block to the rear in 1911, but the house remains intact in its essentials. It is listed as a good example of a late Victorian gentleman's suburban house: its interior eloquently reflects the opulent lifestyle of the day. The Grange became the administrative centre of Harold Wood Hospital, established on the eve of WW2. It is presently used as the HQ of the local healthcare trust.

SOURCE: Victoria County History of Essex vol vii (1978), 45.

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q27087020

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.

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