Heaton Hall

Heaton Hall is a country house, now a museum and art gallery, located in Heaton Park, Crumpsall, Manchester. It is a Grade I listed building.

The house was built in the mid-18th century and substantially remodelled between 1772 and 1789 by the architect James Wyatt for Sir Thomas Egerton. It was further enlarged and an orangery was added around 1823 by Lewis Wyatt. The building is constructed of sandstone ashlar with dressings of Coade stone, and features hipped slate roofs.

The plan comprises a long range on an east-west axis. A central block is linked by colonnaded wings to octagonal pavilions (a kitchen pavilion to the west and a library pavilion to the east), with 1823 additions to the north side of the wings and pavilions, and an orangery extending from the east end.

The architecture is in the Palladian style, with one and two storeys. The house has symmetrical entrance and principal facades to the north and south respectively.

The south facade, entirely designed by James Wyatt, is the principal elevation. It comprises a two-storey five-bay centre with a prominent three-window bow, flanked by single-storey seven-bay wings with tall colonnades mounted on steps. These wings link to slightly higher octagonal single-storey pavilions. The central block has steps leading up to the bow, which are flanked by a lion and lioness cast in lead on stone pedestals. The bow features giant Ionic semi-columns and the outer bays have pilasters. A guilloche string-course runs across, with a plain frieze, cornice and blocking course above. The bow contains 12- and 9-pane sashed windows and Coade stone panels between floors depicting classical rustic scenes, surmounted by a shallow domed lead roof. Each outer bay contains a large Venetian window within a blank arch at ground-floor level, with a 9-pane sash window above. The colonnades have fluted friezes enriched with antique ox-skulls (bucrania) and very tall 15-pane windows (those of the left wing are now boarded). The pavilions each feature pilasters and a frieze matching the colonnades, with a cornice and high parapet, a large Venetian window in the centre and swagged panels over the windows in the canted side bays.

The north front of the main block has a two-storey five-bay composition (2:3:2) with a pedimented centre breaking forward. It features a first-floor sill-band, moulded cornice and blocking course. A tetrastyle portico mounted on steps provides the entrance, with tall 12-pane sashed windows at ground-floor level, horizontal panels above these, and 9-pane sashed windows at first floor. Attached to each side of this block are the 1823 additions to the rear of the wings, comprising two lower storeys and seven bays each, with pilasters and sashed windows of slightly differing character, and massive clustered chimney stacks.

The former orangery to the east, facing south, is a long symmetrical single-storey range with a composition of 3:3:5:3:3 bays. It features a projected polygonal centre, colonnades at each end, and pilasters across the remainder with a full-height window in each bay. A moulded cornice and blocking course extend around the whole. The original glazed central dome and pitched roofs have been replaced by a flat roof.

The interior contains fine original features including an entrance hall, a staircase hall with an imperial staircase and colonnaded landing, a saloon, dining room, billiard room, music room, library, and at first-floor level the Cupola Room, which retains a very rare complete Etruscan-style decorative scheme. The east wing and kitchen were derelict at the time of survey with restoration suspended, though they retain some original features including servants' stairs, fielded panel cupboards in the former housekeeper's room, and two large segmental-arched fireplaces in opposed walls of the kitchen.