Sparsholt Manor, and Associated Garden Buildings and Features, Sparsholt, Hampshire

Description

SPARSHOLT

310/0/10008 WOODMAN LANE
16-JUN-09 Sparsholt Manor, and associated garden
buildings and features

II
Country House, 1922-3, influenced by the Arts and Crafts movement and the Domestic Revival style. Designed by Harry Inigo Triggs (1876-1923) and Gerald Unsworth (1883-1946), architects, for Samuel Bostock. Modest late C20 alterations. Also, ancillary garden buildings and features.
MATERIALS: Red brick in Flemish bond, tile roofs, tile-hanging, leaded casements.

PLAN: H-plan of three storeys, with the second floor within the roof space. Contemporary service wing to west of two storeys. Internal plan arranged with a corridor in the central north part of the house forming a long entrance hall on the ground floor and a landing providing access to the bedrooms on the upper floors. Most rooms are arranged to the south of this corridor on the garden facing side of the house. Main staircase off the entrance hall. Principal rooms comprise a library in the north-east corner, a sitting room in the south-east corner, with the master bedroom above, and then a drawing room and dining room along the southern side of the house. Service rooms are to the west, as is the back-stair.

EXTERIOR: Principal elevation to the south overlooking the gardens: broadly symmetrical with the exception of the additional service wing to the west. Main H-block has a pair of large matching gables flanked by loggias with hipped roofs, barley-sugar brick piers and decorative iron brackets. Central set-back portion has three hipped dormers, a shallow lean-to roof to the ground floor over a central curving bay window. Three prominent, decorative brick chimney stacks are symmetrically arranged. Entirely tile-hung above first floor level in both plain and fish-scale tiles and extensive leaded windows in horizontal ranks. North entrance elevation: asymmetric with two projecting distinct gables, a deep roof, decorative tile-hanging and varied fenestration although all with leaded lights. West and east elevations are both asymmetric. The west elevation has particularly dramatic massing with a deep roof punctured by the hipped roof of the service wing, dormers and chimneys.

INTERIOR: There are many original features including: numerous fireplaces; wood panelling; some exposed floorboards; cornices; moulded architraves and panelled internal doors; timber-framed casement windows with leaded lights; brass door furniture and decorative iron window furniture. A C17 panelled overmantle to the library fireplace carved with linenfold pilasters and zoomorphic plaques; possibly from Lainston House given the Bostock family connections. Early C20 fireplaces are of varied forms: those of the hall and dining room are of brick with panelled overmantles. Others are simpler with wooden surrounds and tile decoration, often with cast iron grates. Fireplaces survive in the majority of the rooms. Both staircases have solid timber balustrades with square newels. There is a dumb waiter in the service wind and servants' bells throughout much of the first floor.

The interiors have experienced some modernisation, particular to the service wing where the kitchen, for example, has been opened up.

ANCILLARY FEATURES: A number of contemporary structures and features ancillary to the house are also of special interest, part of the overall composition and included in the listing. This garden hard-landscaping is largely by Triggs although with some restoration. The exception is the addition of a late C20 patio to the south-west of the house which has been tastefully done. Original features include: stone dwarf walls of the terrace and sunken garden; brick piers; paved Yorkstone terrace; stone rill and pools; brick and timber pergola with cast iron bell concluded by a brick gazebo with a tile roof (this has a bell-like profile which kicks out at the eaves); brick walls to kitchen garden; coach house, stable block and quirky gardener's toilet to west of the house also in red brick with tiled roofs. The stable retains some of the cast iron posts from the former stalls. The coach house has experienced a fire internally and so is included for its external merits. Gate piers to the drive are modern and are not of special interest.

HISTORY: Sparsholt Manor was designed for Samuel Bostock, the owner of nearby late C17 Lainston House (listed Grade II*) which the family sold in 1921. Inigo Triggs was both an architect and a garden designer and he used both skills at Sparsholt. He worked for a number of architectural practices before becoming a partner with WF Unsworth, working out of offices in Petersfield. They were later joined in business by Gerald Unsworth, with whom he designed this house, as well as many others in the counties of Hampshire, Sussex and Surrey. Triggs suffered from ill-health and therefore spent some time in Switzerland and Italy where he also designed gardens and buildings, such as the Villa Guardamunt and a house at Chasellas, both of which were reported in The Builder in 1904 and 1906 editions respectively. The influence of continental gardens can be seen in the garden at Sparsholt Manor. Triggs was working on the Anglo-American church at Taormina, Sicily at the time of his death. His obituary in the Architectural Review in 1923 notes that he was 'working on a house at Sparsholt' at the time. He is better known for his garden design than for his architectural designs becoming quite an authority on the former and publishing several books on the subject. These include: "Formal Gardens in England and Scotland" (1902); "The Art of Garden Design in Italy" (1906) and "Garden Craft in Europe" (1913).

SOURCES: Baskervyle-Glegg, D, 1995, 'Designs for a Garden, Formal Informality', in Country Life, 26th October 1995, pp.58-61
Halfield, M et al, 1980, 'Triggs, H. Inigo (1876-1923)' in "British Gardeners: A Biographical Dictionary".
Waymark, J, 2008, 'Triggs (Harry Benjamin) Inigo (1876-1923)', in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.

REASON FOR DESIGNATION: Sparsholt Manor, a country house with Arts and Crafts and Domestic Revival influences, was built in 1922-23 to the designs of the architects Harry Inigo Triggs and Gerald Unsworth. It is listed at Grade II, in association with its garden buildings and features, for the following principal reasons:
* Design and massing of interest and quality;
* Careful use of materials and quality craftsmanship;
* A substantially intact house which retains most of its original features;
* Group value with the surrounding contemporary garden (included in the national Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest) which was also designed by Triggs, including a number of garden buildings and features which are also likewise listed.

Reasons for Listing

Sparsholt Manor, a country house with Arts and Crafts and Domestic Revival influences, was built in 1922-23 to the designs of the architects Harry Inigo Triggs and Gerald Unsworth. It is designated at Grade II, together with its garden buildings and features, for the following principal reasons:
* Design and massing of interest and quality;
* Careful use of materials and quality craftsmanship;
* A substantially intact house which retains most of its original features;
* Group value with the surrounding contemporary garden (also recommended for designation on the national Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest) which was also designed by Triggs.

External Links

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