The Old Croft

KNUTSFORD

SJ77NE LEGH ROAD 792-1/2/86 (West side) 18/02/91 The Old Croft

GV II

House. Dated 1895. By John Brooke. For Richard Harding Watt who added the tower in 1907 (to designs by W Longworth). Flemish bond brickwork to ground floor, roughcast render above and to tower, red plain tiled roof. Central entrance in main range with cross wings each side, and tower added to north. Principal rooms to rear, with entrance hall and stairs in front, services in tower. EXTERIOR: 2 storeys. Central doorway in heavy porch with balustrading and leaded canopy. Name and date in relief lettering over the door. 2-light casement window to its right, and narrow lights to left. Tall stair window of 3-lights above to left, and two 2-light casement windows to right. Regular fenestration in left-hand gable, with single 3-light window aligned on ground and first floor. Moulded tie-beam in apex. Irregular fenestration in right-hand gable lighting service stair, with windows of 1, 2 and 3 lights on ground, first and attic storeys, unaligned. Upper windows all leaded casements in moulded wood cases. Diagonal shafts to chimney to right, further stack expressed in left-hand gable. Overhanging eaves with bargeboards in gables. Tower of 1907 projects beyond, to right. Small windows of 1 and 2 lights, unaligned, and irregular stepped parapet in Mediterranean style. Garden front similarly disposed, with central range and 2 flanking wings. Full-height canted bay window wrapped round corner of right-hand wing, with gable over and struts carrying bargeboards. This is matched by left-hand wing, which terminates in paired gables over 6-light casement window to first floor. Stepped parapet and animal leadwork rainwater head suggest direct influence of Watt. Sun-room built out from central range, with casement windows and part-glazed doors linking it to main body of house. INTERIOR: not inspected. HISTORY: Richard Harding Watt (1842-1913) was an amateur designer who transformed the townscape of Knutsford with a series of eccentric buildings which are of considerable interest and importance. He used professional architects to put his ideas into practice. Legh Road contains a remarkable series of his houses, of which the Old Croft is the most restrained and conventional. The architect, John Brooke, whose major work (with Edwin Hall) is the Manchester Royal

Infirmary, is of local significance.

Listing NGR: SJ7573777597