Acklam Hall

Acklam Hall is a Grade I listed manor house built around 1680 for Sir William Hustler. The house stands within a partly moated site on the north side of Hall Drive in Middlesbrough.

The original building was extended in 1845, and then substantially altered and enlarged between 1910 and 1912 by the architect W.H. Brierley of York, when it was refaced, given an attic storey with rebuilt stacks, and had a porch, dining room and kitchens added. The house was converted to a school in 1935. Lower rear extensions and mid-20th-century classrooms adjoining the east side and gateway are not of special architectural interest.

The house is constructed in brick with sandstone dressings, and is roofed with Lakeland slate, except for a flat roof over the dining room. It is built to a U-plan and displays Palladian styling after Inigo Jones, combined with Jacobethan attic dormers.

The main entrance front has two storeys and an attic, arranged in seven bays. The 2nd and 6th bays project slightly. A central closed Ionic porch with fluted columns fronts panelled double doors set in a pilaster-and-archivolt surround with carved keystone. The parapet above displays the Hustler arms with enriched vases at the ends. The windows are renewed 24-pane sashes set in architraves beneath alternately segmental broken pediments. Between floors are raised aprons with enriched corbels. Chamfered-rusticated quoins, a moulded plinth and top entablature define the composition. A straight parapet with moulded copings is broken by four linked shaped-gabled dormers, each containing 3-light mullioned-and-transomed windows with leaded glazing. Square-section lead downpipes with ornate brackets and hopper-heads, enriched console kneelers, and banded-rusticated corniced end stacks with blind round-headed niches in the returns complete the external detail.

The projecting single-storey, three-bay right dining-room extension features banded rusticated clasping pilaster strips and a slightly-projecting centre with a sash window in architrave and enriched head under a cornice hood. Flanking round-headed niches sit beneath blind windows. The entablature and balustraded parapet match the main house. Single-bay returns with two mullioned attic windows complete the dining room's sides. The rear left extension is six bays, with the 2nd and 3rd bays projecting slightly under a similar shaped gable. Similar windows and balustraded parapet are employed. The dining room has one-bay left and three-bay right returns. An eight-bay right rear extension extends further. A 1912 single-storey, five-bay scullery adjoins the east side of the rear extension. Bays are separated by pilasters and contain raised panels with tile-louvred vents and vesicas with glazing bars in raised gauged-brick surrounds in alternate bays. The right end bay has a mid-20th-century door. A hipped roof covers the scullery. A banded-rusticated elliptical-headed gateway with keystone and pediment sits to the right.

Interior decoration spans several periods. Originally plain, it was subsequently enriched in the 18th century and 20th century. The hall retains wood panelling of the early 18th century and a heavily ornamented panelled ceiling of 1912 by George Bankart of London. The smoking room has a ceiling dating to around 1740 with richly ornamented frieze, cornice and centre medallion. The boudoir features a richly-carved wood fireplace and panelled walls with a heavily-moulded coved cornice and geometric-panelled ceiling; a painting of a cherub sits in a deeply-recessed centre panel—all dating to around 1730. The 1912 dining room has enriched panelled walls and a ceiling similar to the hall.

The library is panelled with garlanded Ionic pilasters, moulded door architraves and a deeply-carved wood chimney piece of the early 18th century. Its original ceiling comprises deeply-recessed panels of different shapes around a central octagon. The extended bay (drawing room) contains a similar octagon bearing Royal arms dated 1684, Hustler arms and paintings in other panels. The broad ribs carry foliage, flowers and suspended doves and griffins, attributed to John Halbert in 1684, though stylistically of the early to mid 18th century.

The original painted pine open-well staircase has ball-and-artichoke finials to large square newel posts. A carved frieze adorns the handrail, and foliage garlands ornament the rails, strings and newels. The dado rails and pilasters corresponding to the newels are similarly carved. Single and double spiral-twist balusters complete the handrails. The stairwell rises to the roof, where a domed light with heavy borders and elaborate plasterwork dated 1683 displays the arms of Hustler, Savile and Osbaldeston. Groined vaulted corridors lead from the first floor.