Banner Cross Hall

Banner Cross Hall is a country house with attached dairy, now in office use. Built between 1817 and 1821, it was designed by Sir Jeffrey Wyatville for General Murray. The building displays mid-20th century additions and alterations.

The house is constructed in ashlar with hipped slate roofs and features 2 ridge stacks and 6 side wall stacks. It is designed in the Tudor Gothick style and comprises a single range with the main block to the east and a service wing to the west on the same alignment.

The exterior displays a plinth and string courses with crenellated parapets throughout. Most windows have label moulds. The main block is two storeys with four windows. On the northern entrance front, there is a canted three-storey tower porch with a crenellated stair turret. The central feature is a cross casement flanked by single blanks, with above it a blank roundel flanked by single smaller two-light casements. The projecting porch has octagonal corner pinnacles and a Tudor arched doorway with glazed doors. To either side are large cross casements. To the left is a cross casement with a single storey link building below featuring a blank lancet. To the right are two cross casements with two blank lancets below them.

The service wing projects a two-storey porch with a two-light casement above and a Tudor arched door below. On either side are two two-light casements. Below to the left are two cross casements with a small projection beyond containing a single window on each floor. To the right are three cross casements, partly reglazed.

The south front has a two-storey main block to the right with five windows divided 4:1 by crenellated octagonal pilasters. To the left are three cross casements and to the right a canted stone oriel window. Below is a large hipped canted bay window with cross casements, and to its right a three-light cross casement. The right bay has a cross casement above and a three-light cross casement below.

The east end has a cross casement with a canted bay window containing cross casements below. To the left of the main block is a projecting two-storey library with a canted right corner featuring a slit light on each floor, and a projecting square turret on the left corner with similar fenestration. Between them is a two-light casement above and a three-light cross casement below. To the right of the library is a two-light casement with a door and overlight below. To the left of the library is a single window flanked by single two-light casements, with a cross casement flanked by single three-light cross casements below.

Attached to the left end is a single storey rendered dairy with a crowstepped gable and a cross casement.

The interior features Tudor arched doorways and moulded cornices throughout. The octagonal entrance hall contains a Tudor arched fireplace and enriched plaster wall panels. The central stair hall displays similar wall panels and a Gothick frieze, with a cantilevered stone stair featuring a Gothick balustrade. The service wing contains a similar staircase with stick balusters.

The dining room to the south has enriched wall panels and a moulded cornice, with a classical wooden fireplace in 17th century style featuring scroll brackets and a swan neck pediment. Several 17th century carved wood festoons are present. Other main rooms and corridors have moulded cornices and panelled doors with Gothick decoration.