Abney Hall

Abney Hall is a large house, now a school of languages, built in stages from 1847 to 1894. The north-west corner was constructed in 1847 for A. Orrell in a neo-Norman style, followed by the south and south-east portions in 1849, likely by Travis and Mangnall for James Watt, and executed in a Tudor-Gothic style. A further south-east corner addition was made in 1894 by G. F. Armitage of Altrincham. The building is constructed of Flemish bond brick with sandstone dressings and a slate roof.

The house has an irregular layout with two storeys and attics. The heavily enriched neo-Norman entrance portal features an elaborate cusped arcade at first floor level, a neo-Norman niche, and a coped gable. Wings project slightly on either side, displaying large mullion and transom windows with arched lights on the left and cusped lights on the right, an enriched band, continuous hoodmoulds, statue niches, and pinnacled coped gables.

The south-facing garden elevation incorporates a series of seven irregular gables alongside square, triangular, and polygonal bay windows, a two-storey bow window, gargoyles, weather-vanes, numerous elaborate chimney shafts, and a five-bay single-storey addition of 1894 in ashlar. This addition features five stepped gables, mullion and transom windows, and a large central niche.

The interior is extensively decorated, with work carried out between 1852 and 1857 by J. G. Crace, largely based on designs by Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin. A heavily carved open-well staircase has arched braces supporting a panelled ceiling; a landing lantern features ribs and tierceron ribs in an Ely octagon pattern. The drawing room showcases Puginesque richness, including a panelled pendant ceiling, papier-maché doorcases, a white marble chimney piece, and a chandelier by Hardman. The music room contains a large inglenook fireplace and heraldic stained glass installed in 1894. The overall impression is of a Puginian Gothic interior of extraordinary quality, attributed to the work of Crace, who is considered by some to have been the leading interior decorator of his time.