Charnley House

Charnley House is a large town house, built in 1844 for Paul Catterall, a cotton spinner. It was later altered and is now used as offices. The house is constructed of red brick in a Flemish bond pattern, with sides and rear walls of brown brick in a 4+1 English garden wall bond. It has sandstone dressings and a slate roof. The plan is of a double-depth double-fronted design with a rear service wing set at a right angle. The building is two storeys high with a basement and attic, and comprises five bays arranged symmetrically, with the central bay projecting slightly. The basement is faced with ashlar and acts as a plinth, along with corner pilasters, a first-floor band, a plain frieze, and a moulded cornice with a blocking course. A porch at the centre features two Ionic columns and pilasters, a plain entablature (now with attached lettering), and a moulded cornice with a blocking course. Inside, there are three steps with nosings leading to an elliptical-headed doorway, housed within a wooden doorcase. The doorcase has side-lights with patterned coloured glass and a fanlight with radiating lead tracery. The windows are sash windows without glazing bars, and feature raised sills and wedge lintels. The basement areas have been filled in, but are enclosed by the plinths of former railings. The gable walls contain 12-pane sashes on three levels, and the right-hand wall has a stair-window adjacent to the projecting service wing. At the rear, there is a round-headed stair-window with radiating glazing bars and coloured margin panes. Inside, the entrance lobby has a glazed screen with side windows and an elliptical fanlight, both featuring coloured margin panes. The central hallway has diamond-pattern black and white marble paving, and the dog-legged staircase has decorated curvilinear cast-iron balusters and a wreathed mahogany handrail. There was formerly a kitchen in the parallel rear wing, alongside servants' stairs.