Broadfold

Broadfold is a large house, now converted to 13 flats, dating to 1877 and altered circa 1980. It was built for John Murgatroyd. The house is constructed of ashlar with a Welsh slate roof. The main front has two storeys and a four-by-four-bay arrangement. A chamfered plinth, first-floor cill band, first-floor impost band with a leaf motif, eaves band, a frieze with fielded panels, and a corbelled cornice are all prominent features. The central bay projects forward and contains a portico, set on a two-step podium and featuring paired Ionic columns and pilasters supporting an entablature with a pulvinated frieze and modillion cornice. The underside of the roof has an elaborate, floral-decorated panel with margins. Inside the portico is a panelled door with a fanlight flanked by arched windows, each with imposts on decorated panels and a keyed moulded archivolt. Ground-floor windows are segment-arched with corbelled cills and archivolts, while first-floor windows are round-arched with corbelled cills and keyed archivolts; all windows are replacements from the 20th century. The central bay features paired windows above the portico, with marble colonettes. A segmental pediment above the central bay displays the Murgatroyd arms and lion-headed swags. A 20th-century mansard roof replaced the original hipped roof. The rear of the building retains two left bays of ashlar in a style matching the front, with the second bay projecting forward and containing paired windows. To the left of this is a segment-arched doorway with an archivolt, the keystone initialled ‘JM’ and dated, topped with a segmental pediment. The right-hand bays are simpler, built from rusticated stone. The right return (garden front) continues the style of the front. The outer bays project forward with canted bay windows to the ground floor, paired windows above, and were previously under hipped roofs. The interior entrance hall has a dentil cornice and an elaborate ceiling rose. The cantilevered stone staircase has elaborate wrought-iron balusters and a wooden handrail with a curtail.