History

Small country house commission, built in 1907 for G Denton Esq. The architect was Sir Edward Guy Dawber, RA, FSA and President of the RIBA, who designed the house in restrained Arts and Crafts vernacular style; the contractor employed was Peter Edwards of Dodleston, Chester. The design provided for all the requirements of a compact, modern Edwardian house and was widely discussed and illustrated in the professional journals of the day as a model for gracious modern living.

Exterior

Small country house of two storeys plus attics, with single-storey service range advanced at right-angles to front L. Of rough-cast brick construction with sandstone dressings and a steeply-pitched roof of graded Preseli green slates; plain rendered end and central chimneys. Asymmetrical front with entrance bay between full-height, advanced, gabled projections. To the L of this bay, a slightly-projecting single-storey porch with ashlar surround and recessed, boarded and studded door. Tripartite casement window to R (with 8-pane sections) with similar 4-light window to first-floor above, under the eaves. The L flanking projection has 3-light windows to ground and first floors with a tall, multi-pane oriel stair-light to the R, its upper section with additional flanking 8-pane lights; 2-light casement to the attic, in the gable apex. The R flanking bay has a 2-light first-floor window, as before; flat-roofed, canted dormer to central attic. To the L of the left-hand gabled bay, is a recessed full-height stair tower with hipped roof and casement windows as before. To the L of this is a secondary entrance with flat, bracketed porch canopy and part-glazed door.

Six-bay rear (garden) facade with storeyed, canted bay window to the L; deeply-verged gabled roof over. Bay 2 has a multi-pane French window with shaped top and fixed-pane flanking sections; above, a 4-light window under the eaves, with a further, 3-light flat-roofed dormer to the roof. The third is a large projecting bay with deep verges and plain bargeboards to its gable. Five-light wooden mullioned and transomed window to ground floor, with small-pane glazing as before; similar, though projecting 4-light window to first floor, in the form of a shallow, flat oriel. In the gable apex, a hexagonal oculus; 2-light casements to the returns. Further 2-light casements to the first-floor of the remaining bays, with the ground floor of the last two being occupied by a modern conservatory extension.

Adjoining the front facade to the L, immediately beyond the service entrance, is a long single-storey service range with 2-light casement at the house end; a garden/forecourt wall continues flush with this for a short distance further, before terminating. In the centre of this stretch of wall is a round-arched garden entrance with boarded door.

Interior

Entrance hall with simply-moulded cornice and picture rail and narrow oak floorboards. Simple architraves with 4-panel doors off hall to parlour (R), dining room (L) and study (opposite entrance); all doors and windows have original brass furniture by Gibbons of Wolverhampton. An open dog-leg stair leads off to the L of the hall, divided from it by 2 segmental arches; that to the L has a moulded oak rail and turned oak balusters of c1700 (reused, though original to the Dawber house). Geometric Jacobean-style newels and pendants to stair proper with handrail and pine turned balusters (copying those of oak). Upper balustraded gallery around stair well, as before. The drawing room has a deep classical cornice and decorative foliate plasterwork in shallow relief to the ceiling; this is in the form of a shouldered band around the sides. Multi-coloured marble fireplace with simply-moulded wooden surround and simple Adamesque frieze, acanthus cornice to mantelpiece. Leading off from the drawing room to the L is a pair of double doors (3 panels each) with 2-pane lead-glazed mullioned windows to either side. This gives onto the study, with simple marble fireplace with reeded and egg-and-dart frieze and moulded mantel shelf; the fireplace sides are lined with C17/C18 polychromed Delft bird tiles. Polished copper and iron grate. Simple moulded cornice to dining room and a lugged fireplace of coloured marble; egg-and-dart decoration and fluted frieze with projecting central section and flanking rosettes, blue and white Delft tiled surround and polished steel hood. Stick-baluster dog-leg back stair at the end of a service corridor; original fittings to front cloakroom/WC.

Reasons for Listing

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

External Links

• Cadwr Listing
• Wikidata Q29496632

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

• 
  ENGLAND GUIDE TO POST WAR LISTED: A Guide to Post-war Listed Buildings
• 
  County Durham (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England) by Elizabeth Williamson Nikolaus Pevsner(1983-03-11)
• 
  Derbyshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Pioneers of Modern Design: From William Morris to Walter Gropius (Penguin Art & Architecture)
• 
  Cumbria: Cumberland, Westmorland and Furness (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  This Old House: Restoring, Rehabilitating, and Renovating an Older House