Ardenlea

Ardenlea is a large house, built in 1881 and altered in 1914 and around 1963. It was designed for George Thorpe by Thomas Hope of Bradford and is now the Marie Curie Centre. The house is constructed of coursed, rock-faced gritstone with ashlar dressings, a Westmorland slate roof, and cast iron railings. It has a deeply bracketed stone eaves cornice, and plate glass sash windows throughout. The building is two storeys with an attic.

The east entrance has a symmetrical facade dominated by a central, projecting four-storey square tower. The ground floor features a three-light bowed window, and above it, a single sash with a rounded head. The attic floor has pairs of narrow sashes on all three sides, and the top floor features tall Venetian windows to all four sides, each topped with a tall keystone, bracketed cornice, and a stone balustrade. An inserted front door is to the left, and a single sash window to the right, both set under an entablature with Doric pilasters. A late 20th-century addition to the left masks the original front door, now providing access to the addition itself. Above, round-headed windows are positioned on both the front and sides of the building.

The south, or street, facade displays a large square bay window to the right, featuring three sashes to each floor, separated by pilasters. A set-back top section has a further three sashes and pilasters topped with a pediment. To the left, a single sash window is present on each floor, followed by a pair of round-headed sashes now blocked by a late 20th-century lift shaft that protrudes above the eaves. A slightly projecting stairwell includes a ground floor door above which is a round-headed sash, and a further tall stair window reaching through the eaves with a sash and round head. A late 20th-century single-storey projection is located to the left, with a pair of narrow sashes above and a projecting pyramidal hipped roof supported by a stone column with single sashes.

The north, or garden, front has two full-height bay windows. The bay to the left is square, featuring three round-headed sashes topped with an attic containing a Venetian window under a gable. The bay to the right is canted, with three round-headed sashes on the ground and first floors. The attic has a tall, central round-headed window topped with a gable. A three-storey early 20th-century extension extends to the right. Hipped roofs are bordered by ornate iron railings along the ridge.

The interior includes a main central entrance and staircase hall with a Minton tile floor, plaster pilasters, and a screen of two full columns. It boasts deeply moulded coving and a plaster panel ceiling. All doors have moulded surrounds, brackets supporting flat hoods, and panelled doors. The staircase has a central flight with two shorter return flights, featuring turned balusters, rising to an upper landing with similar plaster decoration and a deeply coved ceiling supported on pilasters and full columns, bracketed eaves, and three round-headed windows with decorative stained glass. Reception rooms retain fine plaster ceilings and coving, as well as original panel doors and surrounds. The main bedrooms on the upper floors also retain similar, although simpler, features.