Shortridge Hall

Shortridge Hall is a country house built in 1898 by W.L. Newcombe of Newcastle for Mr. R. Deuchar, and is now used as an old people's home. It is constructed of squared stone with ashlar dressings and has a graduated Lakeland slate roof. The house is near square, with a central stair hall and a short wing to the west, designed in a Classical style.

The south front is two storeys high and symmetrical, with three bays plus a single bay on either side. A prostyle Roman Doric porch is centrally placed, with paired columns on high plinth walls, surrounding part-glazed double doors with an overlight and side-lights. Above the porch is a tripartite sash window within an architrave, topped by a balustraded parapet flanked by pilasters with urn finials. The flanking bays on the south front have French windows within architraves, and first-floor plate glass sash windows also under cornices. The roof is hipped, with two corniced stacks on each slope. A single-bay wing is set back to the left, displaying similar fenestration and a hip-ended roof with a ridge stack.

The west front has two bays, with a projecting three-bay wing to the left, echoing the fenestration of the main block. The east front features a seven-bay design, the central three bays forming a bow with ground-floor windows unified by a linking cornice. The north front (the entrance front) has a central porch similar to that on the south, and the central three bays feature a second-floor level with a balustraded parapet.

All ground-floor windows have patterned glazing to the top lights, each incorporating the Deuchar family arms and motto within a Greek key border.

The interior largely dates to the time of construction. A full-height central hall incorporates a three-bay elliptical arcade on the west side, and a grand imperial staircase with moulded square balusters, moulded handrails, panelled newels with pendants, and a similar balustrade to the balcony. A domed roof light features coloured glazing. Ornamental cornices are present throughout. A half-glazed screen is located within the entrance lobby.

An altered single-storey link and other buildings attached to the north-west are not of architectural interest.