Howick Hall Centre Block And Link Galleries

NU 2417 LONGHOUGHTON HOWICK HALL

16/116 Howick Hall centre block and link galleries GV II*

Country House. 1782 by William Newton for Sir Henry Grey. Linking galleries altered and entrance hall added 1809 by George Wyatt; alterations and internal remodelling, after serious fire, 1928 by Sir Herbert Baker and Scott. Tooled ashlar with graduated Lakeland slate roof. Plan: Rectangular block with internal 1st-floor courtyard; 1-storey entrance hall on north continued as linking galleries to east and west wings (the former stable and kitchen blocks), q.v.

North (entrance) front: 3-storey 9-bay main-block with 1-storey 5-bay projecting porch and 6-bay linking galleries slightly set back from porch at both sides. Porch has plinth, Tuscan pilasters, cornice and balustraded parapet. Central door, with bronze lion-mask knocker, under overlight with lantern and date 1929; cornice over. Flanking round-arched windows; outer windows under cornices. Side galleries have subsidiary doors, and windows in architraves; all replaced 15-pane sashes. 3 rainwater heads dated 1809 with Grey crest. Main block in three 3-bay sections. Pedimented centre holds giant Tuscan aedicule, with recessed windows giving on to inner court, flanked by round-headed windows on first floor and oculi above; all small-paned casements. Grey crest and motto in pediment. Outer sections have 12-pane sashes on first floor, 6-pane above; entablature and blocking course, hipped roofs behind with ridge stacks.

South front 3 storeys, 9 bays. Rusticated ground floor; moulded plinth and - sill string to first floor. Projecting pedimented 3-bay centre with giant Ionic Order. Central half-glazed double door with radial fanlight. All ground- and first-floor windows 12-pane sashes, those on first-floor centre with fluted friezes and console bracketed pediments; similar friezes and cornices in outer bays. 6-pane second-floor sashes in architraves. All windows renewed. Modillion eaves cornice; worn Grey crest and motto in modillioned pediment. 5-bay returns have similar detail, with pedimented 1st-floor centre windows.

Interior: Entrance hall, flanked by distyle Roman Doric screens, has metope frieze, with flowers and bucrania, and decorative plaster ceiling. Most of the interior was renewed in 1928. Most fittings of earlier date now removed, although some ornamental plaster ceilings remain. C17 carved stone fireplace, brought from a Yorkshire house, in study.

Listing NGR: NU2480217499