Normanby Hall

Normanby Hall is a country house built between 1825 and 1830 by the architect Sir Robert Smirke for Sir Robert Sheffield. It was subsequently enlarged in 1906 by Walter Brierley, who added a large east wing and north service range for Sir Berkeley Sheffield. The building is constructed in Ancaster limestone ashlar with a slate roof.

Smirke's original building forms the entrance front and is designed in the Classical style. The main block is approximately square in plan with projecting bays and corner wings. The central section rises to two storeys with an attic storey, flanked by two-storey projecting wings in a 1:3:1 bay arrangement. A plinth, first floor band and cornice link the bays. Access to the entrance is gained by a flight of stone steps leading to a projecting porch with pairs of Ionic columns and pilasters supporting a plain entablature and dentilled cornice. The entrance doors are tall and double-panelled, set within an architrave beneath a pulvinated frieze. Sashes with tapered eared architraves flank the doors on either side. The wings feature recessed tripartite windows divided by pilasters supporting a cornice, with a recessed panel above bearing floral decoration. A flat first floor band separates the levels. First floor windows are similar to those below. All ground and first floor windows are sashes with narrow glazing bars. A moulded cornice runs across the facade, and the attic storey contains three central two-pane sashes in architraves under a further moulded cornice. The wings have parapets with central balustrades, pitched roofs and chimney stacks with moulded cornices to the central section.

The south garden front, forming the right return, features a central section of two storeys with attic in a 1:2:1 bay arrangement, with the first and fourth bays projecting and two-storey outer bays flanking. Central tripartite openings have blind centre panels flanked by sashes and divided by pilasters supporting a moulded cornice with a recessed decorated panel above. The projecting bays have sashes in architraves with hoods supported on carved consoles. The wings have sashes in eared architraves. The first floor central tripartite window has double pilasters flanking a blind centre panel, with bays to either side having sashes in eared architraves. The cornice, balustrade and attic sashes mirror the entrance front. The rear elevation is similar to the entrance front but includes a central ground floor window beneath a hood supported on carved consoles.

The 1906 wing, added to the right in Classical Baroque style, is L-shaped with a five-bay south garden front and an entrance in the angle beside the 19th-century block. The entrance bay has double panelled doors in a Gibbs surround beneath a projecting hood and a large round-headed fanlight surmounted by a raised keystone with carved swags. The symmetrical garden front has a plinth and rusticated quoins. Steps lead up to a central window in an eared architrave with keystone, flanked by Ionic pilasters supporting an open pediment containing the date and decorative carving. Sashes to either side have cills on brackets, architraves, raised keystones and hoods on carved consoles. First floor sashes linked by a cill band have eared architraves and raised keystones. Ornate cast-iron down-pipes with brackets and rain-water heads bear the Sheffield monogram, arms and date. A heavy dentilled cornice and five attic sashes similar to those of the first floor complete the composition. The roof is pitched, and the chimney stacks feature raised bands and cornices.

The interior of the 1820s building is largely intact. The stair-hall contains a single flight and double return staircase with cast-iron fluted column balusters, a sweeping mahogany handrail and panelled dado. Twin east and west drawing rooms feature pilasters, moulded cornices and ceilings. The panelled dining room has a moulded cornice and ceiling, whilst the panelled study and library also have moulded cornices. The library retains its moulded dado rail, which was partly restored in the 1960s. The four principal rooms contain fine 18th-century marble chimney-pieces; the one in the library was inserted in the 1960s, whilst the others date to 1960. The first floor upper hall has a pair of fluted Doric columns at the stair-head. Other original fittings include doors, architraves, cornices and window shutters. In 1906, Brierley opened the original entrance hall into both inner and stair halls and inserted enriched fluted Ionic colonnades. The 1906 wing retains its fine Classical Baroque style interiors and includes inserted 18th-century chimney-pieces. The 1820s building is notable for its early constructional use of cast-iron beams.