History

Small country house commission, built between 1929 and 1930 for R.K.L.S Mainwaring, formerly of Galltfaenan Hall. The architect was Sir Edward Guy Dawber, RA, FSA and President of the RIBA, who subsequently became a friend of the client Lloyd Mainwaring. Designed in restrained Arts and Crafts Georgian style, the commission provided for all the components of a modern country house and included stabling, glasshouses and a large double garage; as well as being a keen aviator the client raced cars at Brookland's and the garaging was consequently one of his design requirements.

Exterior

Large L-plan house of roughcast brick construction with hipped roofs of heavy graded slates and feathered, oversailing eaves; rendered chimneys with simple brick capping. The house is of two sections, the main domestic block of two-and-a-half stories, and a lower 2-storey service wing adjoining at right angles to the front. The main block is of 4 bays with the 3-storey left-hand section advanced and gabled, and has a decorative cast iron hopper to its return with the raised initials 'RKLSM' and the date 1930. Single-storey slated porch to centre of the 3-bay recessed section to R. This has a chamfered sandstone coped gable and moulded Art Deco stone entablature, with multiple projecting keystone. Moulded 2-panel door with raised and fielded panels and a shaped head; 6-pane leaded lights to return walls. The windows to all save the garden front are flush casements with projecting slate sills, mostly in multiples of 6-pane sections, 2-,3- and 4-part. To the first floor of the gabled section is a larger tripartite window of 8-pane sections. Two hipped-roofed, slated dormers to the attic floor with oversailing and gently-feathered eaves. The service wing is lower and has 4-part casements to ground and first floors. To the L is a gabled and storeyed WC projection with casement to ground floor and elongated, octagonal fixed window to first floor. The L and R sides of the service and main blocks respectively are hipped; that to the latter sweeps down to first-floor level where there is a single-storey canted bay (to R) with 28 pane French doors. To the L is a tripartite casement; above, a hipped dormer, as before.

Symmetrical garden front with raised, paved terrace in front; low rubble walls and sandstone steps to garden. The roof is hipped also to the R, reflecting that to the L, this produces an almost triangular facade, with 7-bay ground, 5-bay first, and 3-bay attic floors. The ground floor has elegant 24-pane near-flush sashes; to the centre, stepped-up is a garden entrance with moulded wooden entablature and multiple keystone, as before; 18-pane glazed door. Above, a first-floor 28-pane French Door gives access onto a moulded cement-stone balcony with canted sides and simple iron balustrade. 16-pane casements flank this (to first floor); 12-pane casements to attic dormers, as before. The R return of the garden facade has a casement window to the ground floor with hipped dormer above. The ground floor window is a near-contemporary reduction of a large French Window which originally occupied the space; a canted balcony lies in front. Further 2, 3 and 4-part casements to rear of service wing with attic dormer to L; 8-pane basement window to R.

Adjoining the service block to the L is a single-storey quadrangular service range around a central courtyard. This is accessed from the forecourt via a deep square-headed tunnel opening within which are the entrance to the service block (back door) to R, and former laundry to L; 2-panel fielded doors. External stepped basement access to L of former door with plain railings and boarded door. The laundry range occupies the forecourt side of the quad and has a modern window to the forecourt side. The road-facing side is occupied by a stable range with advanced central section; stable and boarded doors with casements as before. At the corners are flush, terminating towers with pyramidal roofs. The rear side of the quad is occupied by a large hipped-roofed double-garage range with original boarded folding double doors. To the L of this is a cobbled slype, roofed-over with the garage block and with arched entrance leading down to the produce gardens to the rear. This contains further boarded entrances to former battery and generator rooms, coal stoeys and a WC. The rear of the garage block has a catslide roof over a part-open, 3-bay potting shed, which faces the produce garden; weather-boarded L bay with casement, open bays to R with wooden dividing posts.

Extruded in the angle between the service wing of the main house and the garage block of the adjoining court is a large contemporary greenhouse range with original mulit-pane glazing. An entrance with boarded door leads from the service court into this, with a further, glazed door at the garden end. Adjoining the N tower of the court is a contemporary red brick crinkle-crankle wall (of half-brick thickness) running approximately 16m eastwards and constructed in header bond. At the end it returns to the R (south) in a straight section of 5m where it termintes; the rear is roughcast. At the top (house end) is a wooden boarded gate.

Interior

The interior detailing is characteristically restrained but survives almost entirely intact; the fact that doors, fireplaces, work surfaces and service cupboards were all included in the design demonstrates the comprehensive approach typical of contemporary architects of this calibre. The main ground-floor doors (front, study, dining and drawing rooms) are 2-panel, raised and fielded and of polished mahogany. These all lead off a slate-flagged entrance hall, as does the main stair, with access to the garden door beyond. The stair is of traditional straight-flight type, accessed via a wide depressed arch from the entrance hall. It has a moulded mahogany rail and turned balusters and newels, with a balustraded first-floor landing. Plain plaster cornicing to the drawing and dining rooms, the latter with simple flat relief plasterwork to the ceiling. Simple classical fireplace to drawing room, with lugged green marble surround and wooden arcaded frieze with surmounting mantelshelf; bolection-moulded limestone dining room fireplace. Part-glazed mahogany connecting door to service corridor (L of hall), with small-pane upper section. Original fitted cupboards and glazed cabinets to butler's pantry and kitchen; parquet flooring to corridors. Plain stick-baluster back-stair, of dog-leg type and rising to attic floor; here there are servants' rooms and dormitories, with simple decorative iron grates and original bathroom fittings.

Reasons for Listing

Listed as a particularly fine, late example of the work of Sir Edward Guy Dawber, the eminent Arts and Crafts architect and conservationist.

External Links

• Cadwr Listing

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

• 
  Farrow & Ball How to Decorate: Transform your home with paint & paper
• 
  A Buying and Owning a Listed Building: A Brief Guide
• 
  For the Record
• 
  Drawing up a Local Listed Building Consent Order: Historic England Advice Note 6
• 
  Cambridgeshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Department for Communities Listed Historic Buildings of Northern Ireland: Information Guide for the 2nd Survey of Historic Buildings