Mere Hall

Mere Hall is a house, built around 1880, designed by Edmund Kirby. It has been subdivided into flats. The building is constructed of brick with a plain tiled roof and is in a Jacobethan style. It is two storeys and has an attic.

The front elevation has four irregular bays, articulated by plain pilasters, with a gabled cross wing to the left and an advanced wing to the right. The entrance hall is to the left of the central range, featuring an advanced stone porch with massive console brackets supporting the entablature and paired panelled, part-leaded glazed doors. There are paired two-light mullioned and transomed windows to the right and above. Wide four-light mullioned and transomed windows are in the outer bays, with paired hipped roofs over the left-hand bay and hipped dormers to the right. A moulded cornice runs above the ground-floor windows. The gabled cross wing to the left is defined by angle pilasters and features a projecting stack with side lights to the ground floor. A single-storeyed range extends beyond, and may be a later addition. It has pilasters, mullioned and transomed windows, and a doorway to the right. An advanced two-bay wing to the right has two-light mullioned and transomed windows and a full-height segmental bay with a conical roof.

The garden front has six bays separated by pilasters. An external main staircase is expressed as a circular turret with a conical roof, rising from a square buttressed base with a small doorway. There are three advanced bays to the left, with gabled and pyramidal roofed dormers to the attic storey. A wide bay is located to the right of the stairtower, followed by an advanced full-height canted bay with a hipped roof. A secondary stair tower is located to the right, potentially a later phase, and is followed by a single-storey range, also possibly added. Moulded string course and eaves cornices are present. Moulded stone mullioned and transomed windows are throughout, with leaded upper lights. Gable and axial stacks have tall, moulded brick shafts. Stone terrace walls with ball finials border the garden.

Much original detail remains inside. The stair hall has heavy moulded panelling in the lobby and entrance hall, with a lugged dado panelling featuring paired Ionic pilasters divided by twisted shafts above, and egg-and-dart moulding in the cornice. The upper landings have a simpler scheme, with lugged dado and main panels, divided by incised pilasters. The staircase is approached beneath paired arches which return as an arcade to support the return flight. A bow window is on the half-landing, within an arch featuring billet moulding and incised pilasters. There are heavy panelled doors, moulded wood cornices, and panelled ceilings throughout the principal rooms.