Highfield House

Highfield House is a villa built in 1827 for Rev. Edward Unwin, Rector of St. Werburgh's, Derby, designed by Richard Leaper. Leaper was a Derby tanner, Alderman and amateur architect who served as Mayor of Derby in 1794, 1807, 1815 and 1824, and designed various villas in the area.

The house is of rectangular plan with a slightly lower rear wing. The south and east fronts are faced in ashlar, while the remaining elevations are of whitewashed brick. The roof is a 20th-century concrete-tiled hipped roof with stone ridge and brick rear stacks.

The architectural style is austere late Classical. The south entrance front displays a 3-window range at first-floor level with complete 6/6 sashes over square stone bays containing 1/1 sashes. The east front is a complete 4-window range on both floors, all fitted with unusual 6/6 sashes with wooden jalousies (shutter frames and shutters). The west garden front has a canted bay with sashes and a prentice roof, a part-glazed door and further 6/6 sashes. The rear elevation facing the yard contains a large 8/8 staircase sash, other sashes and windows, and a door set within a recess. A central Doric porch on the entrance front has been glazed-in during the 19th century and includes a glazed projection canopy with curving roof supported on decorative cast iron brackets.

Adjoining the house from its north-east corner is a high brick wall with stone capping, punctuated by a pedestrian entrance and a carriage gateway with large piers. The wall extends along the north side of the yard with an ashlar base. The sliding jalousies were originally of cast iron but have been carefully renewed in wood, following cast iron patterns by Wheaterhead, Glover and Co. of the Brittania Foundry, Duke Street, Derby, a firm the architect frequently employed.

The interior retains many original features. The part-glazed front door has decorative engraved-glass panels and similar overlight. The hall features a rich modillion cornice and ceiling rose. Six-panel doors with moulded architraves are found throughout, with most rooms containing simple fireplaces, skirtings, dado rails and cornices. The staircase hall contains a dogleg stair with a cast-iron balustrade of alternating stick balusters and moulded ones with foliage and central open diamonds, fitted with a mahogany wreathed handrail which curves on the landing. The dining room displays a mid to late 19th-century decorative frieze, cornice and ceiling panels together with a mid-19th-century marble fireplace. The drawing room similarly contains an imported mid-19th-century marble fireplace and a rich modillion cornice. The kitchen features an unusual tiled wall of the early 1970s, painted with an extensive vine design.