Church Farmhouse

Church Farmhouse, Sunk Island Road

Farmhouse built in 1856 by Samuel Sanders Teulon for the Crown Commissioners. One of a series of mid-19th-century Crown estate buildings designed by Teulon.

The building is constructed in red-brown brick laid in English bond, with a concrete tile roof. The plan is approximately T-shaped with a double-depth rear wing: a 2-room front with central entrance hall on the west, a 3-room front to the north, and the deeper wing extending to the rear. The building stands 2 storeys tall throughout.

The west front features an asymmetrical composition with a projecting gabled section to the left. A chamfered plinth runs along the base. The entrance area is set back to the right, reached by 3 steps. The door is segmental-headed with a chamfered reveal and fitted with strap hinges; it stands beneath a wide segmental-pointed relieving arch. To the right of the door is a recessed circular date plaque, flanked by an 8-pane segmental-headed window. A large 12-pane sash window occupies the ground floor to the right, set beneath a recessed segmental-pointed panel with painted herringbone brick infill. Above, two 12-pane half-dormers sit beneath similar segmental-pointed panels. The eaves are stepped with tumbled-in brick rising to the larger gable on the right.

To the left, a gabled wing contains a pair of 12-pane ground-floor sashes beneath recessed pointed-arched panels with herringbone brick infill. Above them is a single similar 12-pane window with a painted recessed panel, flanked by flush brick Celtic cross motifs. This section has stepped eaves and tumbled-in brick to the gable, which features a central decorative flush brick round panel. The right return of the wing displays diaper decoration in black brick. A banded axial stack rises through this front.

The north front forms the left return of the main building, displaying 4 first-floor windows. A segmental-pointed board door sits right of centre in a chamfered reveal. Paired 12-pane sashes to the right sit beneath painted recessed segmental-pointed panels. To the left, a similar sash and two smaller 12-pane sashes sit beneath comparable arches. First-floor 12-pane sashes with lintels are positioned at eaves level. The roof is half-hipped with a partly-projecting end stack to the left, featuring tumbled-in brick to the offsets. Adjoining to the left is a single-storey section with modern garage doors and a half-hipped roof.

The south garden front (right return) comprises three sections: a central section with projecting gabled wing to the left, and a single-window section set back to the right. The central section contains a 12-pane ground-floor sash beneath a painted recessed segmental-pointed panel, and a 4-pane first-floor sash beneath a flat arch. A partly-projecting stack to the right features tumbled-in brick to the offsets. Above the ground floor is a recessed relief tablet bearing a crown, royal cypher and date, set within a chamfered segmental-pointed arched reveal. The right return displays a 12-pane ground-floor sash beneath a segmental-pointed panel and a matching first-floor sash, with a half-hipped roof. The section to the right has a step leading to a half-glazed door with 9 panes above a fielded panel, set beneath a segmental-pointed panel, with a 12-pane segmental-arched first-floor sash beneath raised eaves. The wing to the left projects at ground level as a bay window with chamfered angles and corbelled-out corbels above, containing a single 12-pane segmental-headed sash beneath a hipped roof. The first floor of this wing has a 12-pane sash beneath a pointed arch panel flanked by flush brick Celtic cross motifs, with similar brick gable details and black brick diaper decoration matching the west front.

Interior: The staircase is of closed string type with a moulded handrail, chamfered newel and Gothic-style splat balusters featuring pierced trefoils. Doors throughout are panelled and set in architraves.