Kinders

Overview

Kinders is a large detached villa dating from the mid-19th century, built in the Italianate style with stucco render, a shallow hipped slate roof, and deep eaves. The house stands two storeys tall with an attic level. Two single-storey ancillary ranges of stuccoed brick with pitched slate roofs project from the rear.

Plan and Layout

The house follows a regular plan with rooms arranged around a central stair hall. The upper floors of the rear section are set half a storey lower than the front portion of the house. Service rooms occupy the ground floor rear and the projecting linear ancillary wings.

Exterior

The main house features stuccoed chimneystacks, raised quoins, and sill bands to all elevations. Original sash windows survive throughout, with taller ground floor bay windows containing 2-over-4 pane sashes to the centre lights and 1-over-2 sashes to the side lights. Casement windows light the attic spaces. The rear section is slightly lower in height than the front.

Front (South-East) Elevation

The three-bay front elevation is dominated by a central projecting entrance porch surmounted by a balustrade with paired Ionic columns to each side. The porch features a decorative patterned tiled floor and moulded cornicing to the underside of its ceiling. The main entrance comprises partly glazed double doors with rectangular fielded panels to the lower sections, set within a partly glazed surround incorporating slender flanking pilasters and a dentil cornice. Geometric patterned tiling covers the entrance step, and the doorway is flanked by pilaster strips with banded rustication.

Two-storey bay windows with slender side lights occupy the outer bays (canted at ground floor level). Slender paired arched windows with a shared surround incorporating pilasters light the first floor centre above the entrance porch, whilst a single arched window with a similar surround sits within a raised gable at attic level. Half-dormer windows with arched heads punctuate the attic level of the outer bays.

Left Side (South-West) Elevation

A projecting wide gabled bay to the right features two-storey bay windows (the ground floor bay projects slightly further than the first floor), paired arched windows in the same style as the front elevation to the attic, and decorative timber fretwork to the gable. The slightly lower rear section to the left of the gabled bay contains a two-storey projecting bay with paired multi-pane sashes to the front (taller at ground floor) and slender side lights, with an attic window set behind and above. Sash windows with moulded surrounds occupy the far left of the elevation at each floor level.

Right Side (North-East) Elevation

A wide gabled bay matches that on the left (south-west) side elevation, with an additional 2-over-2 sash window set within a moulded surround to the right of the first floor bay window. Large two-storey canted bay windows occupy the centre right of the elevation, surmounted by a balustrade, with a half-dormer window with an arched head set behind the balustrade at attic level. Sash windows with moulded surrounds light the far right of the ground and first floors, with a smaller blind window at second floor/lower attic level.

Rear (North-West) Elevation

A wide arched 11-light stained glass window (lighting the rear sitting area/landing) dominates the first floor centre right, with a raised surround incorporating a keystone. Sash windows of varying sizes punctuate the rest of the elevation, with two blind windows at second floor/lower attic level. A partly glazed door with porch occupies the centre of the ground floor.

Rear Ancillary Ranges

The rear ancillary ranges project from the rear of the house in continuation of the side elevations, facing into a small central rear yard area. The south-east half of the rear right range forms a service flat. Plank and batten doors and 3-over-3 sash windows feature on both yard elevations (two windows have been replaced in the rear right range). A stuccoed ridge stack survives on the rear right range (the stack has been removed from the rear left range). The garden elevation of the rear right range follows a similar style, with four bays to the south-east end comprising the flat with a four-panel door flanked by windows.

Interior

Parquet floors feature in the principal ground floor reception rooms, geometric patterned tiled floors in the rear left service rooms, and timber floorboards on the upper floors. Original and early features survive throughout, including four-panel doors, classical doorcases to principal ground floor rooms, moulded door architraves to upper floors and rear rooms, moulded cornicing and skirtings, highly decorative late 19th-/early 20th-century fireplaces to principal ground floor rooms, mid-19th-century marble and timber fireplaces to upper floors with decorative moulded cast-iron inserts, window shutters, built-in cupboards, and a servants' call system and call box.

Entrance and Stair Hall

The inner vestibule features partly glazed double doors incorporating decorative leaded glazing and stained glass, set within a similarly styled surround. A geometric patterned tiled floor with decorative border covers the floor, with wall panelling to the lower section of the walls. An opening has been inserted into the north-east wall for visitor reception.

The central stair hall boasts a chequerboard marble floor and a plain coffered ceiling. An elaborate carved timber fireplace with tiled hearth and cheeks with marble border and a decorative brass hood provides a focal point. The main timber open-well stair, set to the rear of the hall, features alternating stick and turned balusters, carved newel posts and brackets.

Ground Floor Rooms

The front left ground floor room enjoys windows to the front and side, with a moulded picture rail and raised wall panels. A late 19th-/early 20th-century elaborate timber fireplace incorporates an overmantle with shelving and glazed cupboards, along with tiled hearth and cheeks and a marble hearth edge.

The front right ground floor room, also with windows to front and side, features painted wall panelling to the lower parts of walls surmounted by a narrow dentil cornice. A timber fireplace with decorative overmantle incorporates slender Doric-style columns and an entablature.

The dining room has a later panelled ceiling and a decorative timber fireplace incorporating full-height fluted columns and small glazed cupboards with decorative strap hinges below the mantlepiece.

The kitchen occupies the rear left, housing a range, with a small service room to the rear partly converted into a disabled toilet.

Upper Floors

A sitting area/rear landing off the main stair half-landing features a wide arched stained glass window depicting bird imagery. A kitchen has been inserted into a small room off to the rear left. Replaced egg and dart moulding features on the first floor landing, with three horizontal windows inserted to the north-west wall of the room at the centre front of the first floor.

An arched opening to the second floor half-landing incorporates a keystone and decorative paired consoles. A partly glazed partition wall has been inserted to the attic landing behind the stair balustrade.

Rear Ancillary Ranges

The south-east half of the rear right range forms a staff flat (also incorporating two service rooms to the rear of the main house) with original four-panel doors, some built-in cupboards, and an original fireplace. Storage and workshops occupy the north-west end.

The rear left range contains workshop accommodation and a gas production room. A stone flag floor, brick fireplace and chimneybreast feature in the workshop.

Boundary Features

The house and gardens are enclosed by a snecked red sandstone wall with triangular ashlar copings. Tall ashlar gate piers stand on the south-east side facing Allport Road, each featuring blind panels to each face with chamfered edges, a moulded entablature above surmounted by pyramidal caps. Each pier displays carved lettering reading "KINDERS".

History

The exact date of construction of Kinders is unknown but is believed to be in the mid-19th century. The house is depicted on the first edition Ordnance Survey map published in 1876. The architect is unknown, as are details of the families who lived there. The house was originally known as Freelands and changed its name to Kinders in the early 20th century (it is recorded as Freelands on a map published in 1899, and Kinders on a map published in 1912). The building has been in use as offices since the mid-20th century and has incurred very little alteration. The 1876 map depicts a mostly detached extension to the rear right of the house, which is not present on the 1899 map. A glasshouse to the north of the house also appears to have been removed in the mid- to late 20th century.