Bark Hill

Bark Hill is a house that became a physical education college. The original villa dates from the early 19th century. William Culshaw and Son extended it in the last quarter of the 19th century, with some 20th-century alterations following. An attached college building from 1953-1954 and a west classroom block built by 1964 are not of special interest.

The house and its extensions are built of stuccoed brick with slate roofs.

The original villa is a five-bay building of two storeys and a basement. A central, full-height, semi-circular bow on the north elevation contains a circular entrance vestibule. The south elevation has a central garden entrance with a portico. The original west service wing has four bays, two storeys and a basement. A later-19th-century attic storey was added to this wing, and a 20th-century four-bay extension of two storeys, an attic and basement replaced an earlier single-storey and basement extension. A small east wing, dating from the later 19th and 20th centuries, has two storeys and a basement. It replaced the original single-storey billiard room. The main entrance vestibule leads through to a large, top-lit staircase hall with rooms placed on each side of spine corridors.

The building stands in Aigburth on the north side of the River Mersey, with its main elevations aligned north-south. The south garden front has views across the river and Cheshire to the Welsh hills beyond. The design is neo-classical, with incised stucco facing, painted.

The north-facing front elevation of the original villa has a plinth with rectangular pilasters at the outer corners, a moulded architrave between the ground and first floors, a plain eaves frieze band and moulded cornice with an entablature parapet above. The vertical rectangular windows are plain with projecting sills on the ground floor and a sill band on the first floor, with unhorned sash frames. At the centre is a projecting full-height, semi-circular bow, flanked by stepped bays. The semi-circular bow has rectangular pilasters on the ground floor supporting an entablature with a dentil cornice, which is continued onto the flanking single bays. Between the two central pilasters is the main entrance doorway with curved, panelled double doors and a panelled over-panel. Set between pilasters on each side is a curved window with metal-framed lozenge and diamond glazing with orange glass to the small diamonds. The flanking single bays each have a narrow window with narrow side panes to the sashes and similar windows to the one-bay returns. The first floor of the semi-circular bow has a six-over-six pane sash window above the door and blind windows on each side. The left-hand flanking bay has a sash window with narrow side panes and the right-hand flanking bay has a six-over-six pane sash. Both have blind windows to the one-bay returns. The ground floor of the left-hand recessed outer bay has a flat-roofed projection with paired pilasters, moulded entablature and parapet, and a large, square-headed window with a timber eight-light mullion and transom frame. The first floor has a central six-over-six pane sash window. The right-hand recessed outer bay has a central six-over-six pane sash window on both floors and a second similar window to the left on the ground floor. In front of the central three bays is a wide, modern flight of steps and raised area with a ramp to the left, with tubular metal railings.

To the left, the three-bay east wing projects slightly and overlaps the original outer corner of the villa. It has rectangular corner pilasters, a moulded eaves cornice and parapet, and three plain vertical rectangular windows with horned sash frames on both floors. Those on the ground floor have twelve-over-twelve pane sashes and the smaller first-floor windows have six-over-six pane sashes.

To the right, the west wing has eight bays. The four left-hand bays are slightly inset from the original house, with a band between the basement and ground floor, moulded eaves cornice and a parapeted attic storey with four windows. The ground- and first-floor windows have six-over-six pane horned sashes, with two multi-pane basement windows and multi-pane timber casements in the attic windows. The four right-hand bays project slightly with an eaves parapet, a recessed attic storey with three segmental-arched dormer windows and an outer parapeted bay with a window. The four first-floor windows have six-over-six pane horned sashes and the ground-floor windows have two-over-two pane horned sashes. The four basement windows and three dormer windows have timber casements and the fourth attic window has a multi-pane timber casement.

The south elevation of the original villa has five bays with a raised ground floor featuring a central portico and cast-iron veranda on each side, a plinth band, rectangular pilasters at the outer corners, a slightly projecting central bay on the first floor, a moulded eaves cornice and an entablature parapet above. The vertical rectangular windows have a sill band on the first floor. The flat-roofed portico has a flight of four steps, with a cast-iron scraper on each side, and four part-fluted Greek Doric columns supporting an entablature with a Doric frieze of metopes and triglyphs, with two rectangular pilasters to the wall behind. The plain, square-headed doorway has glazed double doors and a rectangular overlight. The two bays on each side have tall windows with four-over-four pane horned sashes. They are fronted by a delicate cast-iron veranda; the slender, pierced iron structure has a slightly-sloping glazed roof and is enriched with stylised acanthus leaves, swags, wreaths and Greek key motifs. The central first-floor window has a surround set on the sill band with rectangular pilasters supporting an entablature with a Doric frieze. On each side are two plain windows. All the windows have six-over-six pane unhorned sashes. Beneath the veranda are two blocked openings on the left-hand side and a built-up basement doorway on the right-hand side.

To the right, the three-bay east wing continues the moulded eaves cornice, but does not have a parapet. At the right-hand corner is a modern rectangular, stucco stack. The wing abuts the 1950s brick college building (not listed) at right angles. On the ground floor is a rectangular bay with three large windows separated by rectangular pilasters supporting an entablature with a baluster balustrade for a first-floor balcony. The windows have two-over-two pane horned sashes. The first floor has a central balcony doorway with glazed double doors and glazed rectangular overlight flanked by windows with six-over-six pane unhorned sashes. To the left of the ground-floor bay is a projecting doorway to the basement and in front of the bay is a flight of steps with an inner solid, stuccoed balustrade down to the basement level, where there is a louvred door.

To the left, the west wing continues the moulded eaves cornice over the three right-hand bays, with a plain eaves band over the three slightly-recessed left-hand bays and a raised lift plant bay to the outer corner bay. The right-hand bay abutting the original main house has a panelled, rectangular pilaster on each side. The ground-floor window has a surround with a projecting sill with shaped console brackets and fluted rectangular pilasters supporting an entablature with a Doric frieze. The first-floor window above has a projecting lintel and sill band. Beneath is a basement window with a decorative cast-iron railing with curved corners around the area. The ground- and first-floor windows to the five other bays are plain with projecting sills. All the windows have six-over-six pane sashes. The raised outer corner bay has a multi-pane timber window and the attic has five segmental-arched dormer windows with timber casements.

The original villa and shorter west service wing largely retain their historic layout of rooms on the ground and first floors. The large kitchen on the north side of the service wing has been sub-divided with lightweight partitioning, but the original walls of the approximately square room survive. On the first floor there has also been some sub-division of rooms, mostly using lightweight partitioning. Fixtures and fittings which remain include moulded architraves and four-panelled or six-panelled doors. The majority of the ceilings have been obscured by modern under-drawn ceilings of lightweight panels with inset lighting, but where original ceilings are visible in public spaces, reception rooms and family rooms there are high-quality enriched or moulded cornices. A few timber mantelpieces remain, including one with bulls-eye corner blocks in a south bedroom in the villa.

The circular vestibule has a deep, moulded skirting and an enriched dado rail with an enriched cornice and inset central roundel with an enriched cornice and acanthus-leaf rose. The external door has a moulded architrave. The internal doorway opening into the staircase hall has a moulded architrave with entablature and consoles. The door has two lower fielded panels and two glazed upper lights. The doorway is flanked by two large round-headed niches.

The full-height staircase hall has an enriched, dentil and astragal cornice to the ceiling and beneath the first-floor landing. The panelled and enriched ceiling has a raised rectangular roof lantern with panelled sides. The open-well staircase is cantilevered with shaped tread ends to the steps and a curtail step, a cast-iron balustrade with acanthus leaf enrichment and a swept mahogany handrail. Four-panelled doors with moulded architraves lead off the hall, staircase and first-floor landing to rooms. The doorways to the spine corridors have six-panelled doors, as does the narrow former dressing room on the south side of the first-floor landing.

The two ground-floor reception rooms on the south side of the villa have interconnecting, four-panelled double doors, a later-19th-century addition. The east room has an enriched cornice; the ceiling of the larger west room is obscured by a modern under-drawn ceiling. The open-well, back staircase on the north side of the service wing has cantilevered concrete steps with a cast-iron balustrade of slender, square-section balusters and a swept mahogany handrail.

On the first floor the circular room over the vestibule has a moulded cornice, moulded door and window architraves with panelling beneath the window and a four-panelled door. The bedrooms and dressing room on the south side of the villa have cornices where the ceilings are visible. The first-floor rooms on the south side of the east wing also have moulded cornices.

The later-19th-century east wing has been partially altered in the 20th century and the later-19th-century outer bays of the west service wing have been rebuilt in the 20th century with a staircase against the west end wall and a lift in the south-west corner.