Arden Hall

Arden Hall

A large detached villa built around 1898, Arden Hall stands as a fine example of late 19th-century 'Old English' style architecture with Arts and Crafts influences. The building is 2½ storeys tall, constructed in red brick with render and half-timber framing detail, and finished with a plain tiled roof.

The house sits at right angles to Brooklands Road, with its main elevation facing southeast. The complex irregular plan places the primary front elevation as a composition of 2 storeys with attics, featuring a central bay with projecting bays on either side.

The central bay presents an ashlar main doorway at ground floor level with a flat-arched surround and 3 small arched stained glass lights above, the central light topped with an ogee arch. The doorway is flanked by leaded mullioned and transomed windows: one of 4 lights to the west and one of 6 lights to the east, both with images of swallows depicted in their upper lights. An integral arcaded veranda with balustrading at first floor level features a large bay window that provides light into the open entrance hall, topped by an elaborate moulded plaster eaves cornice.

The western bay is a slightly projecting element incorporating a large gabled dormer. Below stand 2 flat-faced bow windows at ground and first floor levels, separated by Tudor-style pargetting. The stained glass designs include floral motifs in the upper lights. The eastern bay, also slightly projecting, contains a gabled dormer with an oriel window. A canted bay window with pitched roof occupies the ground floor, with stained glass designs to its upper lights.

The southwest garden elevation comprises 2 bays, with the northern bay projecting forward. Both feature canted bays at ground floor and plain bay windows at first floor, all fitted with stained glass designs to the upper lights. The rear elevation, though more modestly detailed, includes stained glass designs to the back staircase and all upper lights, decorated bargeboards, an oriel window, a buttress, cast-iron rainwater goods, and an unusual hipped dormer spanning 2 gables.

The interior demonstrates a high level of survival despite minor alterations to the upper floors for office use. The original plan form remains largely intact with many original features preserved: panelled doors, richly moulded architraves, skirting boards and cornicing, and carved oak fireplaces. The oak panelled hallway features a galleried landing and a geometric patterned wooden parquet ceiling. The part cantilevered stair has an unusual arched balustrade that mirrors the galleried landing above. A ground floor bathroom off the hallway retains its original tiles and fittings.

Arden Hall was built to the designs of an unidentified architect and was originally known as Arden Lee. It occupies a site on Brooklands Road, which was laid out in the 1860s by Samuel Brooks, a banker and entrepreneur, to create a cohesive community centred around the Church of St John the Divine. The numerous houses on this road were constructed as private residences, each situated within large garden plots. The original gardens to the west and south of the main house, and along the east edge beside Brooklands Road, have been substantially lost: those to the front are now a small car park, those to the southwest have been taken for access to the coach house, and a further car park has been created to the rear. The coach house has been converted into a separately owned residence with new access through what were originally gardens.

The house now operates as office accommodation. Despite the loss of its grounds, Arden Hall survives with a very high level of completeness, retaining many high-quality features and demonstrating a consistency of stylistic detail and craftsmanship that distinguishes it from its many surviving contemporaries.