Handley Cross

Handley Cross is a house built in 1924-5 on Cantley Lane, Doncaster, designed by architect L. Rome Guthrie for Lieutenant Colonel Ruck Keene. The building is constructed of rendered brick with stone and reconstituted stone facings, rising two stories beneath a plain clay tile roof in the late Arts and Crafts style.

The house plan is dominated by a pitched main roof facing front and back, with two gabled forward-facing projecting cross wings and three gables to the rear. Attached outbuildings lie to the left.

The front facade features two gabled cross wings to the right and a three-bay service wing to the left. The central gable, taller than its right-hand counterpart, displays an external chimney stack on its right-hand side. A solid wood front door with a Tudor arch and hoodmould above provides the main entrance. Between the door and chimney stands a three-light mullioned and leaded window with hoodmould. The right-hand gable end contains a four-light window in matching style. First-floor windows match in size but are plainer with square tops and no hoodmould.

On the left return of the central gable, a three-light mullioned and leaded window serves both ground and first floors. Further left are a two-light mullioned leaded window with flat top and no hoodmould, followed by a gap and another two-light window in the same style. The first floor shows a four-light and three-light window immediately below the eaves, both in matching style. The right return displays a ground-floor three-light leaded mullioned window with Tudor arches and hoodmould beside the wing, a four-light similar window in the gable end, and a matching four-light window above. The left return features a blocked side entrance with plainer-style windows at both levels.

A gabled open porch adjoins the side door, continuous with a tile-roofed open arcade along the house side, which joins single-storey outbuildings forming an open-fronted courtyard to the house's left. These outbuildings are constructed in red brick with garden wall bond and plain clay tiled roofs, hipped at the ends of the left-hand range. They retain original wooden doors, an end ridge stack on the left-hand range, and a tall boiler chimney stack at the right end. A later single-storey outbuilding in brick at the rear of the right gable is not of special interest.

The rear elevation displays three gables, with the right-hand one projecting. An external stack stands in the corner of the right gable, a second external stack between the left gable and the house end, and a third between the second and third gables. Rear windows range from one to six lights in the plainer style.

Internally, the main entrance lobby leads via an original wooden door with iron strap hinges into an entrance hall with parquet flooring. The original fireplace in the front wall has been removed, but doors, door furniture, windows and window furniture remain original. The stairs feature carved wooden splat balusters and square newels with carved wooden tops.

To the right lies a study with a 1950s corner fireplace and parquet floor. The rear corner contains a former drawing room, now dining room, with a later tiled fireplace and parquet floor. The rear area houses a former dining room, now sitting room, with parquet flooring and an original fitted cupboard to the left of a Minster fireplace. A door leads to the kitchen, which has been remodelled from the original kitchen and pantry but retains windows and built-in cupboards that may be original. Doors lead to a further room formerly used as the maid's room, and the rear hall. Original doors in the non-service areas differ in style from those in the service quarters. An original board for the servant call system remains above a door. The rear hall features back stairs with plain stick balusters, fitted cupboards, cloakroom and store-rooms, all original with matching doors, and a plank side door (boarded on the outside) opening to the outbuildings area.

On the first floor, a broad upper hall joins two sets of stairs with a dividing door separating the main rooms from the servants' quarters. The main bedrooms remain largely unaltered apart from the loss of their fireplaces, with the original bathroom in place though fitted with modern fittings. Rear rooms have been remodelled with additional bathrooms added.

The house closely follows the architect's original plans. The outbuilding range does not appear on the plan but is indicated in the elevation drawing of the north end. This represents a very well-preserved example of a 1920s architect-designed house, incorporating strong elements of Arts and Crafts style alongside modern fittings such as bathrooms and cloakrooms, whilst maintaining a clear division between family and servants' quarters. The building has suffered remarkably little alteration to its external appearance or internal layout.