Rose Hill

BIRKBY HALL ROAD 1. 5113 (South Side) Rose Hill SE 1318 21/189 II* 2. Late C19, included on account of some east rooms which were redecorated by the Manchester architects Edgar Wood and J Henry Sellers in 1909. Of this all that is visible externally is on east front. Long canted bay, parapetted, with idiosyncratic moulded pattern. Flush mullions and transoms of square section, with slightly raised fillet in typical Wood/Sellers shape all round. Other ground floor window on east front also mullioned and transomed, has this same shaped fillet. Interior. Most of the rooms have very elaborate late C19 Jacobethan joinery. The Wood/Sellers rooms are in the north-east and south-east corners. North-east room has diagonally panelled plaster ceiling of a very unusual design, and walnut wainscotting inlaid with other woods: very high quality, especially over chimney-piece, which has an unusual geometrically patterned cornice. Fireplace of brilliantly coloured veined marble arranged in rectilinear patterns. South-east room has panelled plaster ceiling of rectilinear design: corner cupboards in 4 corners, each with a semi-circular recess over, necessitating the top of each cupboard to end in a segmental dip. Low lobby between the 2 rooms, wainscotted with plaster domical vault above. Bedroom above has very fine joinery: oak cupboards inlaid with walnut and sycamore in rectilinear patterns. Pink marble fireplace. The joinery (executed by Taylor and Hobson of Huddersfield), together with the furniture (which still remains in situ), the marble chimneypieces and plaster ceilings, combine to make these interiors among the most adventurous in Europe for their date. They compare well with the Kartner Bar in Vienna (Loos: 1907), or the Palais Stoclet in Brussells (Eoffmann: 1905).

Listing NGR: SE1310518098