Stanacres

Large Victorian country house built in 1849-51 to designs by Charles Verelst (formerly known as Charles Reed) of Liverpool. Built in Gothic style for Owen Jones, Stanacres is a 2½-storey building constructed in snecked red sandstone with ashlar dressings, featuring a steeply pitched slate roof with hexagonal fishscale bands and a mix of gables.

The main front elevation presents three bays. The centre bay contains an open porch entrance with a segmental pointed arch flanked by pilasters and carved decoration above, surmounted by a gableted roof with finial and incised quatrefoil decoration. The entrance is accessed by a short stair and has a geometrically patterned tiled floor and Gothic arched panelled and glazed door. Behind this projects a gabled bay with a large 10-light multipane stepped stair window beneath a continuous hoodmould and relieving arch, with a small trefoil window to the coped gable and a kneeler to the right side. The left gabled bay projects forward to the line of the porch and contains 2-light 1-over-1 sash windows with cusped arch heads to ground and first floors, a small trefoil arch window to the attic in the coped gable, and a chimney stack with three flues to the ridge. The right bay has a 6-light mullion and transomed window to the ground floor, a 2-light 1-over-1 sash window to the first floor, and a 4-light multi-pane casement dormer window to the roof, with a substantial external chimney stack of three flues to the right side gable. The rear and side elevations follow a similar style.

The garden elevation on the left side has three bays with angled buttresses at far left and right bearing gablet detail. The left bay contains a small 4-light window to the ground floor beneath a continuous hoodmould with stop on the right side, a narrow window with shallow cusped head above with relieving arch, a 2-light square-headed 1-over-1 sash window to the first floor with relieving arch, and a small trefoil arched window to the attic in the coped gable with projecting sill and finial. The centre bay has a 3-light 1-over-1 sash window with trefoil arched heads to the ground floor beneath a continuous hoodmould with stop on the left side and relieving arch, a 3-light square-headed 1-over-1 sash window to the first floor, and a 4-light casement dormer window to the roof. The right bay contains a 5-light 1-over-1 sash canted bay window with trefoil arched heads to the ground floor and parapet above, a 6-light mullion and transomed window with 1-over-1 sashes and shallow cusped heads to the first floor with relieving arch, and a small attic matching the left bay, though the finial to the gable has been removed. A three-flue chimney stack rises to the rear ridge. An original conservatory was removed in the mid-20th century.

The interior has a central stair hall plan with principal reception rooms accessed from the hall and shows a high level of original survival across all floors. The entrance hall features a decorative panelled ceiling incorporating carved bosses, and a main open-well stair with carved octagonal oak newel posts, timber handrail, and ornate cast iron balustrade with foliage design, together with panelled dado. The dining room has decorative panelled ceiling with carved boss decoration and cornicing in gold leaf. The sitting room contains a late 20th-century inserted marble fireplace with decorative pilasters. Original features throughout include four-panel doors (some in Gothic style), richly moulded architraves, skirting boards and cornicing, and carved oak fireplaces. The basement comprises a series of rooms with original stone flag floor, plank doors, and an ice room with vaulted ceiling.

The house originally stood within a large estate, of which 22 acres now remain. Five acres are formal gardens laid out by Edward Kemp, including a 1½-acre lake. Stanacres has been virtually unaltered since its construction, retaining its impressive external and internal original features and representing a well-preserved high-quality example of Victorian Gothic style country house architecture.