Cragside

Country House. The original house was built in 1864 and greatly enlarged between 1870-2, 1872-7 and 1883-5 by the architect Norman Shaw, with a Billiard Room extension added in 1895 by Frederick Waller, all commissioned by Sir William George Armstrong, 1st Lord Armstrong. The building is constructed in snecked stone with rock-faced-and-margined quoins and ashlar dressings, with some sections featuring timber framing with pebbledashed infill. The roofs are covered in red clay tile except for a leaded part-glazed roof over the Drawing Room and Welsh slates on the Billiard Room.

The house occupies a dramatic site cut into a steep valleyside, with irregular ranges arranged around a small courtyard closed by rock face on the east. A Central Tower rises in the west range, while Gilnockie Tower at the east end of the south range forms a link with the Drawing Room and Billiard Room positioned at a higher level to the south-east. The architectural style is eclectic, incorporating mixed Gothic, Tudor and Renaissance motifs.

The irregular south entrance front is divided into three parts. The left section rises three storeys across three bays, featuring two timber-framed gables and an attic dormer; the central entrance is marked by a moulded arch with inner half-glazed panelled double doors and a large mullioned-and-transomed window above. The central part spans two storeys with a blind jettied top floor across two bays, and contains a larger moulded archway leading through to the courtyard. The right bay is occupied by the five-storey Gilnockie Tower, which has a gabled top floor set back behind a stepped parapet and is crowned with a hexagonal wooden cupola with swept lead dome and weathervane. A projecting right wing extends two storeys on the west side and one storey on the east where the hill slope rises; this wing features large bay windows on its west and south faces, a massive projecting stack on the south, and castellated parapets. At higher level on the far right stands a large detached chimney stack served by subterranean flues.

The west front is irregular, composed of several planes. The right section, originally the 1864 house and heightened during 1872-7 by Shaw, spans four bays rising three storeys, except for a six-storey central Tower rising behind the second bay. The left bay features twin gables, while the right bays have a timber-framed top floor. The Tower itself displays a stepped crenellated parapet below a timber-framed top floor with jettied gable. The left section, dating from 1870-7, comprises two bays and features a semi-octagonal bay window on the left that supports a balcony to a recessed timber-framed second floor.

The north front consists of one plus four bays. The main three-storey part features a gateway on the left dating from 1874: a large moulded archway to the courtyard flanked by stepped clasping buttresses. The third bay has a full-height canted bay window, with a multi-shafted chimney to its right. To the left stands a one-and-a-half-storey bay with a timber-framed gable set back behind a parapet.

Windows throughout are stone-mullioned, some with transoms, except in the timber-framed sections. The majority feature plate glass, though some retain leaded small-paned casements. Various carved panels and details are evident, notably on the timberwork of the Central Tower. The building displays moulded parapets, gable copings and finials. Tall chimneys feature clustered octagonal or spiral-fluted shafts.

The interior is largely complete in its Victorian character. The Stone Entrance Hall has panelled bays on either side and moulded arches, one of which leads to a passage with De Morgan majolica tiles. The Library features an elaborate panelled and coffered ceiling, a frieze with painted floral panels, a high panelled dado and a large chimneypiece of onyx, copper and pictorial tiles; Morris glass depicting the life of St. George appears in the top lights of the windows. The Dining Room has a deeply-coffered moulded ceiling and a high embattled dado with carved frieze; an inglenook fireplace sits beneath a semicircular arch, with the fireplace, arch and frieze above all carved. The large kitchen contains two ranges, a hydraulically-turned spit and a dumb waiter. In the basement below the Library is a complete bath-house suite with a tiled plunge bath. An open-well stair features carved heraldic beasts on the newels.

The upstairs landing and passages display De Morgan tiles. A Gallery with an arch-braced timber roof and glazed top panels leads to the Drawing Room, which contains a huge inglenook fireplace and chimneypiece by W.R. Lethaby executed in Italian marbles, carved throughout with Renaissance motifs and rising to the top of the barrel roof. The roof itself has elaborate plaster side panels and a glazed centre, with a moulded archway opening to the bay window. The Billiard Room features a panelled fireplace wall and Baroque arcades.

Cragside was the home of the 1st Lord Armstrong (1810-1900), an industrialist and inventor. The house was the scene of many technological innovations and was the first in the world to be lit by electricity derived from water power.