Grey Gables

Grey Gables is a substantial house built between 1901 and 1903 for Samuel Margerison, a botanist and local historian with a keen interest in historic buildings and the Arts and Crafts movement. The architect is not known. Datestones on the exterior are inscribed 1901, while the drawing room fireplace bears the date 1903. Only minor alterations have occurred since construction, apart from the conversion of the former coach house to a separate dwelling (now heavily altered and not of special interest) and the construction of a detached garage (also not of interest).

Materials and Construction

The house is built of shaped dressed stone laid in random courses, with stone slate roofs in diminishing courses. Decorative half-timbering features on several upper floor elevations. The building displays high-quality materials and craftsmanship maintained throughout.

Plan and Layout

Grey Gables has an L-shaped plan with two storeys plus attic floor and basement. The two principal rooms run along the long axis at the rear (north), with a hallway and corridor in front. The kitchen extends forwards to the right. A full-height gabled entrance bay occupies the internal angle of the L. A boiler/utility room projects at the east side.

Exterior Description

South Elevation (Entrance Front)

The south-facing entrance front features a projecting kitchen bay to the right with a single window on either side of a porch. The porch has a mono-pitch roof and French windows (a later addition). At first floor level is a mullioned window to the left, and at second floor a centrally placed small three-light mullioned window. The left return has a single first floor window and an externally expressed chimney back rising to a tall triple stack with decorated flues set at 45 degrees. Stone gargoyles terminate the gutters on either side of the gable end.

To the left of this bay stands the gabled entrance bay, which has an open porch with a shouldered arch. The arch is inscribed SM to the left and 1901 to the right, with a drip mould extending over a single light window on the right containing stained glass. Above, the bay is half-timbered, and single windows to first and second floors have timber mullions and transoms. Carved brackets support the bargeboards of the gable. The door is approached up a flight of stone steps edged with low stone walls, with a stepped corner buttress at ground floor level.

To the left again is a further bay with stone below and timbering above. The ground floor window has a stone mullion and the first floor window a timber mullion. Decoratively carved brackets support the roof. In the corner beside the entrance bay is a small lantern window, leaded and with stained glass, supported on a metal corbel. A similar stained glass window appears in the side wall of the entrance bay.

West Elevation

The main west elevation is gabled and half-timbered above the ground floor. The ground floor has a central projecting bay with two adjoining two-light stone mullioned windows. Carved wooden brackets with stone corbels support the jettied first floor, which has a six-light timber mullioned and transomed window to the left and a narrow transomed window to the right. A four-light timber mullioned window lights the second floor.

North Elevation (Rear)

The rear elevation features two massive externally expressed chimney backs. The right-hand one is stepped on the left side and has two small adjacent windows at ground floor level. The right-hand chimney rises to a double stack and the left to a triple stack, both similar to that at the front. Between the two chimneys, scattered windows appear at ground and first floor, with additional mullioned windows at basement level. A low gable rises between the chimneys at second floor level, with a door leading to a balcony. The balcony has a carved wooden balustrade supported on stone corbels.

To either side of the chimneys is a half-timbered element at first floor level with stone below. That to the left has a stone mullioned window at ground floor and a single light above; that to the right has a single light at first floor.

East Elevation

The east elevation has a gabled element to the rear, with stone below and half-timbering to the first and second floors. A four-light stone mullioned window to the right and a door to the left at ground floor are topped by two timber mullioned and transomed windows at first floor and a single mullioned window at second floor. The wooden plank door has a rectangular overlight with stained glass and large decoratively carved wrought iron hinges.

To the left, the utility/boiler room projects from the main wall. It is lower than the rest of the house and in plainer style with flat face mullions. It has two small windows on the north side, a double end stack, and on the south side a door and a three-light stone mullioned window with two small two-light windows to the first floor (these have later wooden sashes). Forward of the utility block on the side of the main house is a door and two-light stone mullioned window above.

Interior

Ground Floor

The open stone porch has a stained glass window incorporating the Leeds owl to the left side and a stone seat on the right side with a carved thistle motif overhead. The floor is tiled and the main door is in oak with a tripartite stained glass overlight and heavy iron door furniture internally.

The entrance vestibule within is lit by the lantern window and a borrowed light window in Art Nouveau style. Wood and glass doors and screens lead into the hall, which is entirely panelled in oak. This includes some reused, reportedly 17th-century wainscoting incorporating earlier hinges. The hall runs east-west through the house, with drawing and dining rooms off to the rear and cloakroom off to the right, with the main stairs rising on the right side. Between the dining room and drawing room doors is a recess housing a built-in telephone table. All doors have nine panels in three rows of two and a top row of three, and door handles are of an individual design in brass. The floor is in herringbone pattern terracotta tiles and the ceiling in oak boards.

The stair has pierced splat balusters in oak, and the newel extends as a square post rising to the ceiling. The large cloakroom is entirely tiled in original buff, green and brown tiles.

The drawing room is panelled to dado height and has a panelled sgraffito frieze above featuring foliage, birds and butterflies. The fine oak floorboards are designed to fit the room, including a fillet to reflect the inset door. The fireplace is set into an inglenook and has a wooden surround with SM, 1903, and DULCE DOMUM! inscribed over the top. The interior is tiled in brown and green glazed tiles with two small stained glass windows and a decorative brass hood and fender. There are several fitted window seats and an original fitted oak dresser with wrought iron furniture.

The dining room is also half-panelled and has patterned oak flooring. The fireplace has a stone Minster-style surround and patterned brick interior.

The kitchen, on the east side of the house in the forward projecting bay, has an ornate cast iron fire surround for a former range, set into a shallow inglenook with a beam over. Opposite are full-height built-in original oak cupboards with individual brass handles. French windows to the south are a later addition.

The boiler room, in the eastern extension of the house, is fully tiled in original buff, green and brown glazed tiles. The side door has individual wrought iron decorative hinges and latch. A stair by the kitchen leads to the basement, which has four full-height rooms.

First Floor

The main stair leads to the first floor with a wide corridor. A stair window at the half landing has stained glass depicting birds above and fish below. All four bedroom doors have individual door knockers.

The bedroom over the kitchen has a marble fire surround with glazed tile interior, dentilled cornice and curved fluting on the corners of the chimney breast, repeated in other rooms. The north-east corner bedroom has a tiled fireplace of 1950s design, while that at the north-west has a carved wooden fire surround incorporating a mirror over the mantelpiece. The wood mullioned window is a modern replacement in original style. A former linen room has been converted to a shower room, and the house bathroom, with modern suite, is over the boiler room.

Second Floor

A second stair with pierced wooden splat balusters leads to the second floor, which has a suite of rooms in the half attic. The central room has access to a balcony with decorative wooden rail (partly replaced) via a door with decorative hinges and handle, and there are original built-in storage cupboards. A third staircase to the east leads to a former servant's room with plain fitted cupboards and doors.

Setting

The house is set in grounds of approximately three-quarters of an acre which surround it on all sides with landscaped gardens, and is approached from a curving drive. Stone walls extending from the house form part of the landscaping along with rockeries and flagged terraces.

Special Interest

Grey Gables is a substantial, individually designed house in the Arts and Crafts tradition, displaying many characteristic features of the style and clearly designed specifically for the owner. It contains a number of unique features such as reused panelling, wrought iron and brass door furniture, sgraffito frieze, fitted furniture and fireplaces. The house is remarkably intact, with very few alterations from its original form and decor, with the original layout and functions of rooms maintained. The setting of the house, with original landscaped gardens, enhances its character.